LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 




UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



SERMONS 



RT. REV. WILLIAM Hf#EMEIMER, D.D. 

Late Bishop of Nezv Jersey and of Northern New Jersey 



aEtti) an Entrotructorg JHemotr 

EDITED BY HIS WIFE , 




NEW YORK 
E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 
713 Broadway 
1881 



The Library 
OF Congress 



WASHINGTON 



Copyright, 1881, 
By ANNE D. R. ODENHEIMER. 



Press of 
y J. Little <5r> Co., 
10 Astor Place, N * 



St. Jolmland 
Stereotype Foundj 
Suffolk Co., N. \ 



To 

THE BELOVED MEMBERS OF HIS FLOCK 
THROUGHOUT NEW JERSEY 
AND TO 

HIS FORMER BELOVED PARISH OF ST. PETER'S, PHILADELPHIA, 
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED, 

I» P^emotiy of 

THEIR LATE BISHOP, AND FORMER PASTOR, 
WILLIAM H. ODENHEIMER. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ii 



SERMON I. 

THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 

I Cor. XII. 31. — " Covet earnestly the best gifts : and yet show I unto 
you a 7nore excellent uuay.''^ 45 



SERMON n. 

A LIVING CHRIST— I KM. 

St. John, vhi. 57, 58, 59. — " Then said the Jews unto Him, Thou art 
not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham ? Jesus said 
unto the?n, Verily, verily, I say unto you. Before Abraham was, I 
Am. Then took they up stones to cast at ZT/w." 60 



SER^iON m. 

"behold the man." 

St. John, xix. 5. — " Then ca7ne Jesus forth wearing the crown of 
thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them — Behold 
the Man.'" 72 

SERMON IV. 

personal SANCTIFICATION, the PRACTICAL OBJECT OF THE GOSPEL. 

CoLOSSiANS, I. 2. — '■^Strengthened with all might, according to His 
glorious power, unto all patience, and long suffering with joy ful- 
ness.'''' 84 



vi 



Contents. 



SERMON V. 

CHRIST'S CALL. 

PAGE 

St. Matthew, iv. 21, 22; Acts, ix. 3, a,.—'-'- And gomg on fro?n 
thence, He (Jesus) saw other tzuo brethren, James the son of 
Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, 
77iending their nets ; and He called them. And they left the ship 
and their father, and followed Him.''^ 

And as he (Saul) journeyed, he came near Damascus : and 
suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven : and 
he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying imto him, Saul, Saul, 
why persecutest thou 7?ie?^^ 96 



SERMON VI. 

GLORIFY CHRIST. 

St. John, xv. 26; xvi. part of 14TH verse. — " When the Comforter 
is come, zvhom I will setid unto you from the Father, men the Spirit 
of truth, which proceedeth fro?n the Father, He shall testify of me. 
. . . He shall glorify 7ne.^^ 107 



SERMON VII. 

death and LIFE. 

St. Matthew, ix. 23, 24. — '■'■And when Jesus catiie into the ruler's 
house, and saw the juinstrels and the people making a ttoise. He said 
tinto them. Give place: for the 7naid is not dead, but sleepeth. And 
they laughed Him to scor^i." 117 



SERI^ION VIII. 

THE RELATION OF SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 

St. Matthew, xxii. part of the 2IST verse. — " Then saith He unto 
them. Render therefore zmto Ccesar, the things that are Ccesar^ s ; 
and zinto God the things that are God's.'''' 129 



SERMON IX. 

action, not argument, the gospel plan of solving perplexities. 

St. John, vi. 8, 9, 10. — " One of His disciples, Andrnv, Simon Peter's 
brother, saith unto Him, There is a lad here which hath five barley 
loaves and two s?nall fishes : but what are they among so ma^iy ? 
And Jesus said, Make the 77ien sit down." 142 



Coiitents. 



vii 



ser:mox X. 

THE PO\^"ER OF EVIL AND THE PO^^*ER OF THE HU^IAX AVILL — A r^n'STERY 
OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 

PAGE 

St. Luke, id. — " The mysteries of the kingdom of God.'' 153 



SER^IOX XI. 

CHRISTMAS DAY. 

St. Luke, ii. 10-14. — ''Afid the angel said tinto theiii. Fear not : for, 
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all 
people. For unto yoii is born this day in the city of David a Sa- 
viour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto 
you .' Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, ly ing in 
a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a vmltitiide of 
the heavenly host praising God, and saying. Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace', good will toward men.'''' 164 



SERMOX XTI. 

christians the representatives of CHRIST. 

Daniel, vi. 20. — '■'And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, 
servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continu- 
ally, able to deliver thee from the liojis 173 



SERMOX XIII. 

GOD ALONE THE OBJECT OF THANKSGRTNG. 

Nehemiah, IX. 5, 6. — '■'■Stand lip a>id bless the Lord your God for ever 
and ever; and blessed be Thy glorious 7tame, zi'hich is exalted above 
all blessing and praise. Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone; Thou 
hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the 
earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is 
tJiereiti, and Thou preservest thejn all: and the host of heaven 
worshippeth Thee.'^ 1 84 

SERMOX XW. 

CHRIST THE INTERPRETER OF HISTORY AND NATURE. 

Re\*elation, V. 2-5. — '■'■And L savo a strong angel proclaiming with a 
loud voice. Who is worthy to open the book, ajid to loose the seals 
thereof? A}ui no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the 



viii 



Contents, 



earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept 
much, because no majt was found worthy to open, and to read the 
book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, 
Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, 
hath pr mailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.'''' 195 

SERMON XV. 

REST. 

St. Mark, vi. part of the 31ST verse. — " Come ye yourselves apart 

into a desert place, and rest a while.'''' 208 

SERMON XVI. 

THE HIGHEST DIGNITY OF OUR HUMANITY. 

Ephesians, V. I, 2. — Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear chil- 
dren; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us.'''' 218 

SERMON XVII. 

the temptation. 

St. Matt. iv. i, 2. — " Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the 
wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted 
forty days and forty nights. He was afterward an hungered.''\ . . . 229 

SERMON XVIII. 

Christ's crucifixion; the nature of the victim, and the reason 
OF his suffering. 

St. Matthew, xxvii. 50, — " Jestis, when He had cried again with a 

loud voice, yielded up the ghost.'''' 239 



SERMON XIX. 

Christ's peace, and the vision of christ crucified. 

St. John, xx. 19, and part of 2oth verse. — " Then the same day at 
evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut 
where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus 
and stood in the midst, and saith unto them. Peace be unto yoti. 
And when He had so said. He showed unto them His hands and 
His side. " 249 



Contents. 



ix 



SERMON XX. 

EASTER-EVEN. 

PAGE 

Hebrews, IV. 9. — " There re?7taineih therefore a rest to the people of 

God:' 260 

SERMON XXI. 

SIN, ITS REALITY, AND THE NECESSITY OF RESISTANCE. 

Hebrews, xii. 4. — " Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against 



270 



SERMON XXII. 



christian murmurers. 
St. Matt. XX. II-15. — '■'■And when they had received it, they mur- 
mured against the good?nan of the house, saying. These last have 
wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, 
which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered 
one of them, and said. Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou 
agree with me for a penny ? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I 
will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me 
to do what I will with mine own ? Is thine eye evil, because I am 
good.''' 279 

SERMON XXIII. 

THE resurrection. 

St. Matthew, xxvii. 62, 63, 64.— "yWw the next day, that followed 
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came to- 
gether unto Pilate, saying. Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, 
while He was yet alive. After three days I will rise again. Com- 
mand therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, 
lest His disciples co77te by night, and steal Him away, and say unto 
the people. He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be 
worse than the first." 291 

SERMON XXIV. 
the prince of life. 
Acts, hi. 15, 16. — " The Prince of life whom God hath raised from the 
dead; whereof we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in 
His natfte, hath made this tnan strong whom ye see and know." . . . 300 



X 



Contents. 



SERMON XXV. 

BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD. 

PAGE 

I Cor. XV. 29. — '■'■Else what shall they do which are baptized for the 
dead, if the dead rise not at all ? Why are they then baptized for 
the dead?'\. 310 

SERMON XXVI. 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ASCENSION. 

St. John, vi. 62. — " What and if ye shall see the Son of matt ascend 

tip where He was before " 324 

SERMON XXVII. 

christians THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

St. John, xiv. 16, 17, — '■'■ And I will pray the Father, and He shall 
give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever: 
even the Spirit of truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because 
it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He 
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.'''' 337 

SERMON XXVIII. 

"the trinity in unity." 

Job, XI. 7, 8. — " Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find 
out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is as high as heaven; what 
canst thoU do ? deeper than hell; what canst thou know ' 347 

SERMON XXIX. 

he receiveth sinners. 

St. Luke, xv. i, 2. — " Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and 
sinners for to hear Hi?n. And the Pharisees and scribes murmur ea, 
saying, This nian receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.'''' 356 

SERMON XXX. 

JESUS WRITING ON THE GROUND. 

St. John, viii. 8, and part of qth verse. — '■'■And again He stooped 
down and wrote on the ground. And they zvhich heard it, being 
convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one. " 367 



IISrTEODUCTIOK 



This volume of Sermons selected from the MSS, 
of the late Bishop Odenheimer, and published as a 
memorial of him, should have been accompanied by 
a life of their author, but for the difficulty of access 
to such records, and correspondence as would give 
interest, and do justice to the subject. As it is, I 
can only point out in passing, the most striking way- 
marks of an unusual career; and even in this limited 
outline shall chiefly quote the words of others, who 
have stated facts, and the general appreciation of 
them, better and more fitly than words of mine 
could present them. Perhaps too, this is best, be- 
cause even a strictly faithful picture including traits 
of his inner life, drawn by one who best knew its 
beauty and symmetry, might seem too like a mere 
eulogy from an over-partial pen. 

A selection from the ''Memorial Services" held 
in honor of the late Bishop of New Jersey, and of 
Northern New Jersey is deemed a fitting preface to 
this memorial volume. Both as Priest, and Prelate, 
these selections faithfully and lovingly portray his 
official career, and individual characteristics. ''As it 
takes a rare artist to paint the transparent atmos- 



12 



Introduction. 



phere, or put on canvas a pure ray of light," I shall 
therefore not attempt anything more than simply to 
collect some statements connected with the life of 
my husband, whose memory is shown to be identi- 
fied with Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever 
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, what- 
soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of 
good report." 

William Henry Odenheimer was born in Philadel- 
phia, August nth, 1817 — his father being John W. 
Odenheimer, a merchant of that city. After receiving 
preparatory instruction in St. Paul's College, Flush- 
ing, under the Revd. Dr. Muhlenberg, he entered the 
University of Pennsylvania, and there graduated July, 
1835 — holding so high a place in his class that, though 
less than eighteen years of age, he was chosen to de- 
liver the valedictory address. He at once became a 
candidate for holy orders, and after spending three 
years in the General Theological Seminary, New 
York, graduated from that Institution in June, 1838. 
In September, at the age of twenty-one, he was or- 
dained Deacon by Bishop Onderdonk of Pennsyl- 
vania, and soon after he was invited to become as- 
sistant to the Revd. Dr. De Lancey, then the Rector 
of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, and Bishop-elect 
of Western New York. Three months later, when 
Dr. De Lancey was consecrated to the office of Bishop 
and vacated the Parish to take charge of his Dio- 



Introduction. 



13 



cese, his young assistant was invited to remain as 
officiating minister, and after holding this position 
less than a year, he^ was elected as Bishop De 
Lancey's successor in the rectorship of this large 
church; with an intellectual congregation, and a 
Vestry, composed of men of culture and mature 
judgment. He was at this time too young, accord- 
ing to the Canons, to be ordained Priest; but he 
retained charge of the Parish during the remainder 
of his diaconate; and when he reached the age of 
twenty-four years he was ordained to the priesthood 
by Bishop Onderdonk, in October, 1841, and was 
instituted Rector in the same month. 

One of the leading journals of the Press in New 
Jersey^ says, ''Under Dr. Odenheimer's wise and 
faithful administration the Parish grew in size, and 
in reputation as a live, zealous, churchly Parish ; 
and St. Peter's was the first church in this country 
to maintain Daily Prayer, and a Weekly and Holy 
Day Celebration of the Eucharist, which are now so 
common." 

Before passing on, let me say that Dr. Oden- 
heimer throughout his after-life never ceased to 
thank God that He had granted him the great 
privilege of being the first to restore in the Ameri- 
can Church the Daily Service of Morning and Even- 
ing Prayer, and the celebration of the Holy Commun- 

* ^Newark Daily Advertiser. 



Introduction. 



ion on every Lord's Day and Holy Day throughout 
the year. This movement to carry out the Prayer 
Book fully, in its spirit and its letter, while it star- 
tled many, caused no breach of harmony between 
the young Rector and his people. 

He had a noble Parish, filled with earnest co- 
workers, and though there must have been some 
amongst them who were reluctant to change the 
accustomed order of the Parish, they were too mag- 
nanimous to oppose the pastor whom they loved 
and trusted, and whose conscientious convictions 
they respected. 

There was outside clamor, misrepresentation, and 
reproach; but he went bravely on, firm in his sense 
of duty; and trusting in the strength of the Lord 
Who had inspired him to undertake the work in His 
name, and to His honor and glory. 

A prominent clerg}'man Avho was a parishioner 
at St. Peter's during his youth, says, ]\Ien partly 
make, and are partly made by, the age they live in; 
and when a man of deep beliefs, and a strong will, 
is thrown into a transition time, he will leave his 
m.ark. He may do it in the teeth of opposition; but, 
all the more for that, it will not wear out; and men 
will be influenced by him, who never knew his name. 

"Could an ardent, enthusiastic, zealous young man, 

* The Revd. Dr. W. P. Lewis, Memorial Sennon preached at St. Peter's, 
Philadelphia. 



IntrGdiLction. 



15 



v/ith convictions that reached his heart's core, feehng 
that truths and practices that some looked upon as 
new, were simply those which had been from the 
beginning; could he take charge of such a parish at 
such a time, and not feel that he had a mission ? 

''But our Pastor was no liot-headed enthusiast, 
aiming to reach reform at an impracticable bound. 

"On April 25th, 1843, answer to a statement 
made by him, and laid before them, the Vestry passed 
a resolution ' that they cordially, and unanimously 
concur, in the adoption in this Parish, of an ancient, 
and pious usage of the Church. They believe that 
the institution of Daily Public Worship will be accept- 
able and profitable to the immediate congregation, 
and will be hailed as an example worthy of imitation 
throughout the land.' 

"And from then, till now, St. Peter's has always 
been opened twice every day, to incite her children 
to that quiet, unexciting ritual; those daily milestones 
along the road to Heaven, which are set up in the 
Order for Daily Morning and Evening Prayer. 

" One incident shows the spirit of the man. When 
asked whether he was not sometimes discouraged at 
the smallness of the week-day congregation, his reply 
was, ' I never count them.' At a later date (after 
communicating to the Vestry his purpose), it was 
announced that henceforth a Weekly Celebration of 



i6 



IntroditctioJi. 



the Eucharist would be the custom of the Parish — ' A 
Pastoral letter was at the same time read, whose 
solemnity of tone on the one hand, and on the other 
its moderation, conciliation, and deprecation of con- 
troversy, made all feel that the time was too short 
to quarrel about privileges; it was ours to use them.' 

"As a Pastor — cannot many w^ho are here take up 
the subject- and preach to themselves ? Will they 
not bear witness to his promptness, his attention, his 
sympathy in sickness, or bereavement. The sick vis- 
ited at any hour of the day or night; this was the 
invitation, and it was meant to be accepted. Or in 
a not less important part of the pastoral care, will 
not those who had occasion to open their grief, agree 
with the preacher when he says, that their Pastor 
was always accessible, never austere; touched, like 
his Master, with the feeling of their infirmities; en- 
couraging, not forbidding; strict in his views of what 
was right; but so ministering discipline, that he for- 
got not mercy. 

"As an illustration of the amount of work done by 
him, let the fact be mentioned that for nearly a year 
after his return from Europe and the Holy Land, in 
1852, he was without an assistant. Is there often an 
instance in which the Rector of a large Parish with 
Daily Service, and Weekly Celebration, has discharged 
the whole duty alone } It seemed as if he thought 

* 1848. 



Introduction. 



(though no one else did) that his absence bound him 
to do double duty after his return. 

" In speaking of him as a man, let my words be 
fewer still. No analysis of his character shall be at- 
tempted. Two traits are photographed on the mind 
of the parishioner. One of them, I hardly know what 
to name it — frankness, heartiness, candor — call it 
what you will — ' these three are one.' After having 
had to do with him, you felt the entire absence of any 
thought in reserve. He meant what he said; he had 
shown you himself It is not every good man of 
whom you can say this. After having been with some 
men, you feel an indefinite uneasiness, a want of cer- 
tainty as to what they are, and what they mean, 
which you cannot put into words; not so was it with 
him. Closely connected with this, was the other trait 
I have in my mind: freedom from cant, and from the 
mere conventionalisms of religion. He was what he 
seemed; and that was a great power." 

In Easter Week 1859 the Diocese of New Jersey be- 
came vacant by the death of its distinguished Bishop, 
the Rt. Rev. G. W. Doane, and Dr. Odenheimer was 
elected to succeed him.- On the 13th of October, 
1859, was consecrated, in Richmond, Va., where 
the General Convention was then assembled, and at 
once took his seat in the House of Bishops. At the 
close of the Convention he returned to Philadelphia, 
to take leave of his beloved Parish and friends; and 



1 8 Introditctioii. 

removed to Burlington, where he took possession of 
"Riverside," the Episcopal residence of the Diocese 
of New Jersey. 

The Bishop published a Pastoral Letter, announ- 
cing that he had assumed the charge of the Diocese, 
and at once began his visits to every parish and mis- 
sion station. Before the Diocesan Convention met in 
the folloAving May, his voice had been heard wherever 
there was a sanctuary in the Diocese. He was not 
unacquainted with its history and troubles, and had a 
deep sense of the responsibility of the Episcopate. 

" Had I looked to myself," he said, "nothing could 
have induced me to exchange the grateful repose of 
pastoral subordination, for the inherent disquietude of 
episcopal responsibility." He trusted in God, and was 
able at the very outset to see the situation and needs 
of the Diocese. To use again the words of the jour- 
nal quoted above, " He addressed himself not alone 
to building up the Church, but as much to quieting 
dissensions among the Clergy, allaying bitter feeling, 
and uniting all in bonds of love and sympathy. His 
affectionate nature, genial disposition, and simplicity of 
manner drew all toward himself, and thus into closer 
union with one another. He won for himself the love 
and reverence due to him as the head of the Church, 
or the father of the family, and the sons were knit 
together by their common regard for him. Peace and 
brotherly feeling have characterized his administration 



Tntrodiictlon. 



19 



almost from its beginning, and his successor will find 
the Church here working harmoniously. It would be 
almost sacrilegious to disturb the peace which the de- 
parted Prelate so earnestly prayed and labored for. 

''And yet, while loving peace, and preferring to 
praise his staff of co-laborers in the Diocese, at times 
when a rebuke was demanded, he never hesitated to 
use his authority. He realized his dignit}' and rights 
as a Bishop, and notvrithstanding his mild and loving 
manner, every one felt that he was the supreme head 
of the Diocese. He compelled reverence Avithout aim- 
ing or seeming to awe anv one. 

''While Bishop Odenheimer had force of character 
and was independent, love Avas his ruling trait, and he 
studied the things that made for~ peace. At the same 
time he never compromised Avith Avhat he deemed 
wrong. When the Bishops in the General Conven- 
tion of 1 87 1 put forth a definition of the doctrine of 
baptismal regeneration, to quiet certain minds. Bishop 
Odenheimer showed his resolute adherence to his con- 
victions by refusing to sign the deliverance. He stood 
alone, and yet hesitated not to maintain his position. 

"His voice Avas noble in its pOAverfulness, and son- 
orous quality, so that it Avas a pleasure to merely 
hear him speak; his reading of the serA'ice Avas ever 
deeply impressive. 

Bishop Odenheimer zealously fostered the mis- 
sions of the Diocese, and in every Avay, by his counsel, 



20 



Intro ductio7i. 



his word of encouragement to his band of Priests, and 
his own actual labor, sought to develop, and multiply 
the parishes. The see became too large for one 
Bishop. A proposition to divide it received the ap- 
proval of the Bishop, and having been duly discussed 
was carried into effect in May, 1874. In November of 
the same year the primary Convention of the new 
diocese was held in Newark, and Bishop Odenheimer 
then announced that he would choose the new Diocese 
of * Northern New Jersey' for his own. The Bishop's 
health being much impaired, he bade farewell to his 
brethren at this Convention in a deeply touching ad- 
dress and sailed for England."^ 

After six month's absence the Bishop returned 
with his health greatly improved, and took up his 
residence in Newark; where he remained about two 
years, and then removed to Orange. He was spend- 
ing a few weeks in Mendham for the benefit of his 
health, "when he became worse, and was removed to 
Riverside, his old home in Burlington, now the resi- 
dence of his daughter, and son-in-law, Mr. Henry B. 
Grubb. The Bishop's condition was such that it was 
thought he could live but a short time; and it was to 
the surprise of all that he lingered through months 
of patient suffering. 

His ill health preventing his presence at the annual 
Convention of his Diocese, May, 1879, address to 

* Newark Daily Advertiser, Obituary Notice. 



Introduction. 



21 



that body from his sick room was listened to with 
deep emotion, knowing that it must be his last. Its 
opening, and closing words were as follows — 

''Brethren, Beloved in the Lord, — 

'* You well know that I am not of my own choice 
absent from you at this Diocesan Convention, but 
that the hand of our dear Lord restrains my going 
out and my coming in amongst you as for almost 
twenty years it has been my pleasure and privilege 
to do. You all know how at the beginning of my 
severe illness, I came to Burlington for a temporary 
sojourn, and have been detained from month to month, 
abiding my Master's will as to the result. But, from 
within these walls my heart has gone forth to every 
part of my beloved Diocese, with interest as strong 
as ever in its progress and prosperity. And I thank 
God that He has enabled me to continue its super- 
vision and care in all but the spring visitations, which 
required bodily strength that was not mine to give. 
For the good work done amongst you this spring 
I have to thank my brother Bishops of New Jersey 
and Springfield, for the fraternal readiness with which 
they came to my aid in this hour of need, and for the 
efficient services so graciously rendered. There are 
others of the Bishops who, during my sickness, have 
kindly given a service on special occasions to parishes 
desiring it of them, whose names will appear in my 



22 



Introduction. 



record, and to whom I return sincere thanks. I shall 
give you a brief summary of the general condition of 
Diocesan affairs, and of the work that I have been 
able to accomplish in m.y ov\^n person, with a record 
of what has been done for me, embodying in all, the 
statistics of the year. But before proceeding to de- 
tails of Diocesan work, I ask you to join me in a 
tribute to the memory of some no longer here, be- 
loved and honored by us all, and for whose good 
examples we bless God's holy name I can- 

not proceed farther, my beloved brethren and friends, 
without saying that while I have lingered here in 
sickness, and suffering, my heart has been cheered, 
and my spirit refreshed, and strengthened by the 
tokens of loving sympathy coming to me from every 
portion of the Diocese, from my dear children in the 
Lord, clerical and lay, comforting me with the assur- 
ance that the heart of my beloved flock still turned 
warmly towards me through absence, and enforced 
separation. And from both Convocations of my for- 
mer Diocese of New Jersey have come touching mes- 
sages of sympathy and love; as well as from my dear 
old Parish of St. Peter's, Philadelphia, whose affection 
has outlasted twenty years of separation. All this I 
acknowledge most gratefully, and I heartily thank 
God, who has thus made His face to shine upon me 
and bring me peace. Commending you, the clerical 
and lay representatives of the Diocese, to the guidance 



Introduction. 



23 



of the Holy Ghost in your deliberations and discus- 
sions, I invoke God's blessing upon you all. 

"Affectionately your Bishop, 

''W. H. Odenheiaier." 

If he whose life was LovE could have foreseen or 
imagined the outpouring of affection and deep feeling 
that came from every quarter at the announcement 
of his death, it would have filled his heart over full ; 
for in his self-abnegation he never thought of claim- 
ing for himself the tribute of admiration and honor 
that he was so ready to render to others. And when 
from his brother Bishops, — from his former Dioceses, 
in the voice of their Conventions, their Convocations, 
and their several parishes, — and from his sons of the 
clergy and laity individually — came testimonies of 
warm affection, and deep appreciation ; it seemed as 
if the overflowing of his own loving heart had poured 
itself into theirs, and filled them to the brim. 

From among the throng of these precious wit- 
nesses that came to bring consolation to the be- 
reaved, and well fulfilled their gracious mission of 
comfort, — I must give space only to a few, and let 
them represent the others whose voices mingled with 
theirs, and whose tones are equally clear and earnest. 

''The committee appointed at the meeting of clergy 
and laity of this and other dioceses, held in Burlington 
on the day of the funeral, report the following: 



24 



Introduction. 



" 'The Bishops, Clergy and Laity gathered together 
in St. Mary's Church, Burlington, N. J., at the funeral 
of the Right Reverend William H. Odenheimer, D.D., 
Bishop of Northern New Jersey, adopt the following 
]\Iinute as an expression of their sense of the loss 
which they, in common with the whole Church, have 
sustained by his removal from the scene of his earthly 
labors to the rest and reward of the Paradise of God: 

"'Appointed very early in his ^Ministry to the 
charge of the large and influential congregation of 
St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, among the first to es- 
tablish in this country the Daily Service and Weekly 
Celebration of the Holy Communion, his untiring de- 
votion to his work, judicious administration of the 
parish, and faithful performance of his duties, soon 
won for him the title of "the model Parish Priest." 
Altl;iough twenty years have elapsed since he was 
called from the rectorship of St. Peter's to the office 
of a Bishop in the Church of God, that Parish still 
feels the impulse of his work, and his influence still 
lives in that city where so many were trained under 
his ministry for Christ and His Church. 

"'Consecrated to fill the difficult position of suc- 
cessor to "the great-hearted Shepherd," the late 
Bishop Doane, the same characteristics which dis- 
tinguished his Priesthood manifested themselves in 
his Episcopate — the gentle Christian spirit, the fin- 
ished scholarship, the sound theological learning, the 



Introditction. 



25 



showing himself in all things an example of good 
works unto others," and ''setting forward quietness, 
love and peace among all men." In this highest 
office of the Church he labored with such fidelity 
and success that he was privileged before his death 
to see the old Diocese of New Jersey divided, and 
both divisions of it larger and stronger than the 
whole when he was first placed at its head. 

'''Called to endure afflictions more than usually 
fall to the lot of mortal men, and for some years 
past compelled to do his work under constant bodily 
suffering, through all he labored with heroic courage, 
bearing his sorrows and trials with singular patience 
and unrepining gentleness, until he has fallen asleep 
in Christ, honored and mourned by all who knew 
him as a Priest and a Bishop. Though a man of 
loving disposition, and ever mindful of the Apostolic 
injunction, that "the servant of the Lord must not 
strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, 
patient," he was endowed with such moral courage 
that his trumpet gave no uncertain sound. His 
several charges and addresses to his Diocesan Con- 
vention present evidence of this, and by them "he 
being dead yet speaketh. 

'"We commend his afflicted family to the care of 
Him Who has promised to be a Father to the father- 
less and the widow's God, Who knows all their en- 
cessities in their hour of deep sorrow and bereave- 



26 



Introduction. 



ment, and Who alone can give them consolation 
and comfort. 

'''Resolved, That a copy of this Minute be sent tc 
Mrs. Odenheimer, and be published in the papers. 
'''In behalf of the meeting, 

John Scarborough, 

Edward B. Boggs, 

E. A. Hoffman, \ Committee. 

J. C. Garthwaite, 

A. Browning." 

" The following Report was unanimously adopted, 
by a rising vote of the Ninety Seventh Convention 
of the Diocese of New Jersey, and it was ordered 
that a Copy of these Minutes be engrossed, and sent 
by the Secretary to Mrs. Odenheimer. 

" 'The Diocese of New Jersey, at its first Con- 
vention after the death of Bishop Odenheimer, desires 
to put on record its reverent and loving remembrance 
of the Prelate who for fifteen years was its Chief Pas- 
tor, and to bear witness to the high qualities which 
endeared him as a Bishop and a man. 

"'In scholarship Dr. Odenheimer was eminent. 
Habits of close, accurate study, and practical ap- 
plication of his acquisitions, produced, even in his 
youth, Avorks of condensed learning, that at once 
became trustworthy and useful hand-books to the 
teachers and disciples of Catholic truth ; and studious 
habits were maintained to the last year of his life ; the 



Introduction. 



27 



daily handling of God's Word in the original tongues, 
and the intelligent examination of the latest theo- 
logical writings, making him a Avise counsellor in 
questions of doctrine and law, ripe and ready, con- 
servative yet progressive; confided in by his Peers 
on the Bench of Bishops, as well as by the Clergy 
and Laity. 

"'In priestly character he was exemplary; among 
the very foremost in reviving the thorough Church 
system, — in Daily Prayer and Weekly Eucharist, and 
the full observance of the Ecclesiastical year, "instant, 
in season, out of season," in pastoral visitation and in- 
struction : notably "the model Priest," during his pas- 
torate of more than twenty years in one Parish, from 
whom a generation of younger priests gained inspi- 
ration and encouragement to attempt, in their own 
ministry, "the ancient things of the Church Catholic." 

"'In his Episcopal office, he "so ministered dis- 
cipline, that he forgot not mercy" and ever studied 
the things that make for peace, thereby harmonizing 
the differences and uniting in fraternal confidence the 
forces of a great Diocese and preparing it to become, 
under his own hands, "two bands" of beauty and 
strength. In his private life he illustrated in a rare 
degree, comparable to Hooker and Hammond the 
saintly virtues of reverence, purity, and patience. 
The sick-room, which at three several periods of his 
Episcopate was for months his only abode, he conse- 



28 



Introduction. 



crated to be the very House of God, by daily offering 
of the Church's Prayers, and a Lord's Da\- reception, 
constantly, of the Holy Communion; and the privi- 
leged visitors to that sick-room, found it also the 
Gate of Heaven, where patience Avas having her per- 
fect Avork, and the chastened son and servant of 
God, growing up to that entire submission and con- 
formity to God's will, in which nothing appeared 
wanting for the departure to be with Christ. 

' We bless God for the good example of His 
servant now at rest; for the good fruits of his Epis- 
copate in the two Dioceses of Xew Jerse}'; for his 
useful services to the whole CluircJi of Christ; and 
especially for the pattern of that cheerful, saintly 
submission to the Divine appointment, which de- 
tained him a helpless invalid at Riverside, when 
his treadings would have been over the broad field 
of his Diocese, and in the yet ampler domain of the 
whole Church's activities of work and thought. His 
life-walk was in extraordinary measure, by Cross to 
CroAvn. 

''']May we who survive him on earth have like 
grace to follow him, as he followed Christ.' 
( Signed) 

Elvix K. Saiith, "I 

Erskixe Rodaiax, Committee. 

J. HOV\-ARD PUGH." J 



Introduction, 



29 



"At a special Convention of the Diocese of 
Northern New Jersey, held in Trinity Church, 
^ Newark, the committee appointed to prepare a fit- 
ting testimonial of the bereavement that the Diocese 
and the Church have suffered in the death of our late 
beloved Diocesan, respectfully report the following 
Minute : 

*''The death of the Right Reverend William 
Henry Odenheimer, our late beloved Bishop, is an 
event which though but too long expected, has justly 
awakened widespread, and heartfelt grief He was in 
many respects a man of marked characteristics. 

**'He was a cultivated scholar, an eloquent preach- 
er, a most industrious and painstaking worker in 
many different fields. His contributions to church 
literature were many, and always valuable. 

As a Pastor he was untiring and most beloved, 
an ensample of the flock. In leaving his Parish, for 
the Diocese, he brought with him a record of sincere 
churchmanship, and was followed by the affections of 
all to whom he had ministered. 

***His warmheartedness, catholicity, and devotion 
to his new duties rapidly won, and ever retained the 
good will of all, notwithstanding shades and differ- 
ences of opinion; and he wielded the authority of his 
distinguished office with such kindness that he died 
without an enemy. 

"'What he did was effected in spite of difficulties 



30 



Introduction. 



not to be exaggerated. It pleased God at an early 
day that he should be almost crippled. But that 
hardly prevented a visitation. He suffered sad and 
painful bereavements and domestic affliction: that 
seemed but to nerve him to his daily duties. He was 
struck with terrible and desperate disease: under that 
he still stood up patient, submissive, and yet strug- 
gling in spite of all to perform his holy tasks. Not 
until it was impossible for him to work did he aban- 
don effort; and to his dying breath, he prayed and 
hoped for the welfare and progress of the Church and 
the Diocese. 

"^In the Councils of the Church wise and temper- 
ate; in the management of his Diocese seeking peace 
always, and with all possible effort; as a Pastor tender 
and devoted; as a man genial, affectionate, and kind; 
a Christian full of faith, and confidence, and imbued 
with the spirit of love towards man and towards 
God ; a Churchman decided, enthusiastic, and yet 
charitable, he has entered into rest followed by the 
regrets of all who knew him, leaving us an exam- 
ple of Christian duty most earnestly, and successfully 
performed. 

'''May the DiVlNE Head of the Church listen to 
the prayers of a bereaved Diocese, and bless our pres- 
ent meeting by inducing the selection of a successor 
to- this Bishop whom He has taken from us, worthy to 
take up his mantle, and bearing it, to urge forward. 



Intro dziction. 



31 



even more triumphantly — the cause to which he de- 
voted his life — 

Evangelical Truth, and Apostolic Order. 

( Signed) 

F. C. Putnam, 
C. Parker, 

Anthony Schuyler, V Committee. 
J. N. Stansbury, 
Henry Meigs. 

The above Minute was unanimously adopted by 
a standing vote, and the Secretary ordered to send a 
certified copy of the same to the family of the late 
Bishop Odenheimer. 

{Signed) EDWARD B. BOGGS. 

Secretary of the Convention of NortJiern New Jersey." 

*'My dear Mrs. Odenheimer, — 

It gives me great pleasure to be the medium of 
transmitting to you this testimonial to the memory 
of our late beloved Bishop. 

"Associated with him as I was in the missionary 
work of the Diocese, I can say from personal knowl- 
^edge, that this Minute is not mere eulogy but simple 
truth. 

" Respectfully, 

Edward B. Boggs." 



32 



Introduction. 



The tribute of a brother Bishop will fitly close this 
memorial outline. 

''There are not many earlier memories of my youth 
than those which gather about Doctor Odenheimer as 
the Rector of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia. The 
old life at Riverside in my father's time was bright 
with all that goes to make a happy home. But his 
coming always brightened even its sunshine, and no 
more welcome guest ever entered its wide open door. 

"Of his character in his earlier life, I can only say 
that, with all its genial and gracious attractiveness, 
he impressed me, as a boy, with the intensest realiza- 
tion of the priestly office. His dress was truly the 
habit of his life, and no one could be with him often 
without feeling the atmospheric presence and the at- 
mospheric pressure of his personal religious life and 
of his ministerial office. 

"A favorite of men, the friend of women, the com- 
panion of boys, he was always the representative of 
his Master. Partly the outcome of a nature, which his 
boyhood's friends remember as pure, like a woman's, 
as ' ingenuous not only, but innocent,' it was the 
stamp of his ordination, set, not like a vestment upon 
his shoulders, but like a seal into his soul. His pas- 
toral character, in its lower function as a Priest and 

* Delivered by the Bishop of Albany at Grace Church, Newark, on 
the 4th of September, 1879, ^.t a service in commemoration of the late 
Bishop Odenheimer. 



Iiitro duct ion. 



33 



in its higher exercise as a Bishop, was an outgrowth 
from within. 

It may be fitting here to say a word of the posi- 
tion which my dear Brother occupied in the various 
conflicts and changes of opinion in the American 

Church, not in detail, but in general statement 

He was a man of the minority at that time, and 
greatly in advance of his generation. Young as he 
was, he had so thoroughly the clearness and the cour- 
age of his convictions, and in the "three years of his 
diaconate had won so completely the confidence of 
his parishioners, that he established, among the very 
first in America the Daily Service of Morning and 
Evening Prayer, and the Celebration of the Holy 
Communion on every Lord's Day and Holy Day. I 
believe St. Peter's was for years the only Parish Church 
in America that kept the Octaves. 

''The bitterness of outside attacks only led him to 
make plain the groundwork of his principles in the 
three books published in the first years of his priest- 
hood. The copies, which I have before me as I write 
— of these three books ' The Origin and Compilation 
of the Prayer Book,' ' The True Catholic no Roman- 
ist,' and ' The Young Churchman Catechised,' bear 
date, the latest of them, more than thirty years ago, 
It was when men were first beginning to stand in the 
old ways, and ask for the old paths. And the same 
feet which years later walked with such reverent tread 



34 



httrodiiction. 



over the ground the Master's feet had made ' the Holy 
Land ' were among the first in England or America, 
to walk about Z^on telling her towers ' and ' mark- 
ing well her bulwarks' of Apostolic order, of evan- 
gelical truth, of liturgical purity that he might ' tell 
them that come after.' Full of careful and original 
research, written with a concise force which breaks 
at times into very eloquent beauty, they are to-day 
the very best tracts I know of to refresh the recol- 
lections of Candidates and Clergy as to * the first prin- 
ciples ' of the doctrine and discipline of Christ. And 
no candidates for Confirmation ought to be without 
the knowledge which they contain in a complete and 

attractive form 

" If I had the choice of a memorial to-day of the 
late Bishop of Northern New Jersey by which his 
memory might live and grow, I would make it in a 
large reprint for perpetual use, and wide distribution 
of these three books, as an antidote to sentimentalism 
in religion, to spurious Catholicity, and to the easy- 
going looseness of the license that passes for liberality. 
This was the work of the young man who signed him- 
self at first ' Diaconus Catholicus.' And while his 
character deepened intensely as the years went on, 
and his convictions strengthened; while his constant 
studies led him to enlarge and enrich his religious 
sympathies, he stood through the whole of his Episco- 
pate where he stood in the first years of his ministry. 



hitrodtiction. 



35 



Men came up to him till his early principles became 
popular and powerful; and men went beyond him, not 
in a straight line, however, and not always in advance. 

" I have not the data, and if I had it would be use- 
less for me here to enlarge upon the records and re- 
sults of Bishop Odenheimer's admirable administration 
of the undivided Diocese of New Jersey. He was, I 
remember, in the first days of his Episcopate, intensely 
interested in reviving the old Parishes and Missions, 
which changing populations, and poverty of mission- 
ary funds had left, almost to die. His labor for the 
Church's extension in the Diocese and outside of it, 
was untiring. The vision of his ascending Lord, wid- 
ening till it passed from Jerusalem to Judea, and to 
' the uttermost parts of the earth,' was the governing 
principle of his missionary zeal. 

''With all the untiring energy of his parochial 
work, his incessant rounds of pastoral visits, his con- 
tinuous services, and his constant sermons as a Parish 
Priest; through all the exits and the entrances of his 
laborious visitations of his Diocese as a Bishop, he 
made the time for close and accurate study in the 
divine science of theology. The massive and mas- 
terly learning of his first Charge to his Convention, 
' The Sacred Scriptures the Inspired Record of the 
Glory of the Holy Trinity,' bears evidence to his rare 
powers of exegesis, his familiarity with the original 
text of the Old Testament, and to that double gift, 



36 



Introduction. 



so essential to an expounder of the Holy Word, the 
scientific insight which digs with deep and devout 
hands among the roots, and the poetic power which 
recognizes and revels in the sweet beauty of the flow- 
ers of inspired language. 

" Two things are eminently true of him, beside the 
absolutely balanced soundness of his theology : first, 
the conscientious accuracy and carefulness of his writ- 
ings; and secondly, the freshness and freedom with 
which he loved to talk theology, to advance new ideas 
of interpretation, and with a real mightiness in the 
Scriptures to illustrate, and elucidate their rich depths 
of meaning. 

"We have in permanent preservation his Lectures 
on Jerusalem, which set forth admirably his reverence, 
and his richness of knowledge in holy things which so 
well furnished him for a religious teacher. 

" I cannot pass by the title and the whole argu- 
ment of his second Charge, in whose words one can 
hear still the clearness and positiveness of his voice 
and manner, * the old evangelical theology and prac- 
tice, not new machinery, the want of the Church in 
the latter days.' It sounds so like him, in his con- 
stant determination to rescue that good word ' evan- 
gelical' from any narrowness of party prostitution, 
and it is sufficient proof, if proof were needed, that he 
stood firmly, among passing fashions, upon the prin- 
ciples and practices of his earliest ministry. 



Iittroduction. 



37 



''From these more public and more wi'dely known 
and recognized features of your Bishop's work one 
turns with no little hesitation to speak of his private 
history and life. That such a character could have 
been formed but by full gifts of the divine grace work- 
ing upon a rare and lovely nature need not be said. 
And that these gifts came to one who lived very near 
to God, who was instant in prayer, and constant in 
the use of all the appointed means of grace, is as true 
as it is inevitable. He was eminently a man of prayer 
all his life through, not merely in the habitual observ- 
ance, for forty-four years at least, of the daily public 
services of the Church, but, I believe, in the keeping 
of the hours when he could; and, I know, from the 
one who only could know it, beside God, in filling 
'with silent prayer the short pauses in writing, read- 
ing, or speaking at the striking of each hour.' And 
the outcome of this was the strength of which St. 
Paul's humble trustfulness speaks: 'I labored more 
abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of 
God which was with me.' 

"It was not long after his Consecration that he met 
with the first accident which disabled him from the 
full physical activity and strength that had been part 
of the beauty and honor of his manly dignity. It 
was truly a 'thorn in the flesh,' from which even 
his prayers could bring him only the relief they 
brought the great apostle, of 'grace sufficient,' and of 



38 



Introduction. 



'strength made perfect in weakness.' That any man 
used to incessant labors, and with a demand for even 
larger exercises of strength, could have submitted 
with entire patience and uncomplaining resignation 
to such a visitation of God, and that, in spite of all 
physical infirmity, he should have carried on the labo- 
rious duties of visitations, of Confirmations, of preach- 
ings, uninterruptedly, almost to the last, is the simple 
record of this repeated truth, ^ Not /, but the grace of 
God which was with me.' Measuring work by amount, 
and by the difficulty of its accomplishment, never 
were labors more abundant than his. I was instantly 
and constantly with him after the first accident, and 
learned a deeper love and admiration for him than I 
had before. When for a second time he fractured the 
patella, he said to the faithful Priest, almost his son, 
who hastened to his side, 'It is all right; it is God's 
will,' And after the accident 'he ^yas driven ten 
miles, with the limb unset, to meet an appointment 
at South Amboy, where he confirmed twelve persons 
before he took the special train to Burlington, reaching 
home at midnight, to place himself under the surgical 
treatment so bravely delayed for duty's sake.' The 
hampering of this physical disability, increased by the 
attack of mortal disease years before he died, was a 
sore sorrow to such a man. It drev/ to him the ten- 
derness of everybody, who hastened to help him, and 
were all overpaid by the gracious gratitude of his 



Introduction. 



39 



smile and his wofds. But even it was as nothing to 
the sorrows that broke his large and loving heart in its 
tenderest place, his great love for his children. One 
after another, till only two are left, they were taken 
from him. Those knew, who knew him, how the iron 
entered, rusted with tears and roughened with the 
added pang of suddenness, into his very soul. And 
yet he came out from these deserts, into which 'the 
Lord took him aside,' with the spring gone, and the 
blush of full happiness taken away,'Strong in the true 
and tender human love that was left to him and is so 
desolate now; stronger in the divine love, on which 
he leaned; brave, gentle, faithful, constant to duty, 
piteously patient, and with a heroism, not of endur- 
ance only, nor of resignation, but of ready acceptance 
of the will of God, that was simply and supremely 
sublime. 'Patient in tribulation,' the tribulation, that 
ground out and cast away the chaff and left the wheat, 
which God has garnered now — 'patient in tribulation, 
continuing instant in prayer,' she writes me, who knew 
him best, 'might be most fitly graven in granite to tell 
the story of his life.' 

"Partly, perhaps, because of the blinding light, but 
partly because men are busy through the day, and the 
sun busier still about its gracious task of shedding 
light and warmth upon the world, it comes to pass 
that few take much note of the sun itself in the broad 
daytime, however they may rejoice in its sweet in- 



40 



Introduction. 



fluences. But when the evening falls, and the sun 
sinks behind the little horizon of our narrow sight to 
shine on other worlds; and when the poor trifles that 
we call our work are over, we have time to look and 
wonder at the sunsets. And some are dull and leaden, 
like a life that dies out in blank despair. And some 
are lowering and stormy, like the struggle of a peni- 
itent for rest. And some are hidden behind clouds, 
like the sad ends of men who ' die and leave no sign.* 
And some are merely yellow glares of shadeless light, 
fading unnoticed into gray, as common lives sink in- 
significantly out of sight. But the gorgeous and the 
glorious sunsets that live in memory and defy the art- 
ist's highest skill to catch on canvas — the gorgeous 
and the glorious sunsets are those which gathered 
clouds break loose from, that they may borrow of their 
glowing colors to make the dying hour sublime. And 
these clouds that make the sunset beautiful, these 
clouds transfigured with robes and gems of splendor, 
are the types and tokens of God's use at the last, and 
of God's lesson at the last, of the tears and toils and 
trials through which His children pass in their al- 
lotted place of duty, till the time comes when they 
shall reflect in lustrous brilliancy the lives, and trans- 
figure into foretastes of reward the deaths, of His 
'sons brought unto glory,' as was the Captain of their 
salvation, being 'made perfect through sufferings.' So 
I have seen the life of my dear brother, in the com- 



Introduction. 



41 



posure of the calmest courage, work out its duty 
through the clouds that gathered about him when 
the noon had passed, irradiating every one, till, when 
the evening time drew on, sorrows and sufferings 
passed from him, made beautiful by the clear faith 
and the heroic patience of his character, and lingering 
in celestial colors as the Nimbus, 'the bright cloud,' 
about his sainted head." 

I feel that in putting together as I best could from 
the words of others, the materials for this faint out- 
line, too incomplete to be called a sketch, I must 
trust to those who knew and loved Dr. Odenheimer, 
as Pastor, or as Bishop, to fill out the picture in their 
own hearts, recalling from individual memory such 
traits as may make the portrait full and plain to each. 

And now, to such as must yet abide awhile, await- 
ing God's time; — to eyes that through tears gaze up- 
ward; — the veil seems sometimes almost drawn aside 
behind which he has passed, 

"From the sorrow and the fears, 
From the anguish and the tears, 
From the desolate distress, 
Of this world's great loneliness — 
From its withering and its blight, 
From the shadow of its night, 
Into God's pure sunshine bright." 

A. D. R. O. 



SERMONS. 



SERMON I. 



THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 

CHARITY, RATHER THAN CHARISMATA [EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL GIFTS), 
THE EVANGELICAL REMEDY FOR THE DIVISIONS 
OF CHRISTENDOM. 

I COR. XII. 31. 

Covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a tnore excel- 
lent way.'''' 

And what way, O inspired Apostle, can be more 
excellent for the peace and edification of the mem- 
bers of Christ, than those marvellous Charismata, 
or Gifts of the Holy Ghost, which thou hast de- 
scribed to us with such particularity and earnestness ? 

Such is the exclamation which instinctively starts 
from our lips as, after dwelling on the details of the 
external spiritual endowments of the Church at 
Corinth, we are confronted with the unexpected, 
almost abrupt declaration in the text. 

Among the Churches of Apostolic foundation there 
is none that seems to have enjoyed such remarkable 
intellectual and miraculous manifestations as formed 
the glory of the Christian organization in the refined 
metropolis of Achaia. 

In the opening salutation of the Epistle St. Paul 
congratulates them in these words: ''I thank my 



46 



The Mo7'e Excellent Way. 



God always on your behalf for the grace of God 
which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in every- 
thing ye are enriched by Him, in all tttterance and 
in all knowledge ... so that ye come behind in no 
gift." What a magnificent heritage of real divine 
power to think with exactness, and to speak with 
surpassing eloquence, on subjects connected with the 
Gospel of the Son of God ! What more glorious en- 
dowments for a Church, and for a minister, than to 
be enriched not by the unrealities of a self-excited, 
or popular enthusiasm, but by the grace of God, in 
all utterance, and in all knowledge ? And yet in the 
presence of these God-given blessings, of thought and 
speech, the Apostle boldly says, I show unto you 
a more excellent way." What can that way be ? 

The answer to this question will constitute the one 
point which, with God's blessing, I purpose to study 
with you to-day. 

The text is the last verse of the twelfth chapter 
of the first epistle to the Corinthians and is indis- 
solubly connected with the thirteenth chapter — that 
wonderful chapter on Charity — so that, read according 
to the connection of the Apostle's thought, and argu- 
ment, the text would run on into the following dec- 
laration, in this fashion- — 

Covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I 
unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak 
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not 



The More Excellent Way. 



47 



Charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling 
cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, 
and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and 
though I have all faith, so that I could remove moun- 
tains, and have not Charity, I am nothing." 

Our subject then is clearly opened before us. 

The more excellent way for the peace, and edifi- 
cation of Christians, and Christendom, is Charity. 
Charity, rather than Charismata, or external spirit- 
ual gifts, is the great want of Christians and of Chris- 
tendom at the present day. Notwithstanding the 
abundance of all these brilliant gifts of real spiritual 
powder, the Corinthian Church was deficient in purity, 
and in peacefulness. At the very outset of the his- 
tory of Christendom, the singular spectacle is pre- 
sented by the, infallible record of inspiration of moral 
degradation in alliance with miraculous, ecclesiastical 
gifts of the Spirit. The same Apostle who writes 
Ye Corinthians come behind in no gift," writes to 
the very same Church that there is moral pollution 
practised among them which ''is not so much as 
named among the Gentiles ! " The same inspired 
voice that acknowledges the powers of intellect, and 
eloquence, with which they were enriched by spiritual 
gift, is heard in the ominous warning " Ye are yet 
carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and 
strife and divisions, are ye not carnal } " 

The same fair-minded, out-spoken Apostle who 



48 



The More Excellent Way. 



honored even the temporary gifts of miracles, and 
tongues, and who affirmed and upheld the value of 
the divine threefold Ministry, Apostle," Prophet," 
Teacher," bfdding the faithful "account of us as 
Ministers of Christ, and Stewards of the mysteries 
of God," and urging those whom it concerned, to 
covet earnestly the best gifts — " did as fairly, and as 
plainly declare, that the more excellent way to glorify 
Christ in the peace, purity and unity of the Church, 
was the way of Charity. 

Yes, Charity — not some recondite remedy, not some 
more brilliant external gift of the Spirit, but that 
well-known, easily-defined Charity which is so mi- 
nutely described in the thirteenth chapter of Corin- 
thians — which '^suffereth long, and is kind, which 
envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 
and doth not behave itself unseemly." Charity, which 
" seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, think- 
eth no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in 
the truth" — Charity, which ''bearethall things, be- 
lieveth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all 
things," and which "never faileth": — this Charity it 
is, which by the decision of inspiration, and in view 
of the other, and even miraculous gifts of the Spirit 
which we are bidden to covet, is the more excellent 
way to work out the glory of God, in the salvation 
of the individual Christian, and in the peace and 
unity of the Christian Church. 



The More Excellent Way. 



49 



Oh, Christians of the end of this age, open your 
hearts and judgments to the teachings of the divine 
Master, at the beginning of the age ! The Gospel 
and Kingdom of the Incarnate Son of God, have in- 
deed wrought wonders in the world since the Canon 
of inspiration was settled, and the last word of revela- 
tion was communicated to us by the Holy Ghost. 
The Church of Christ has indeed extended into all 
parts of the world, and here, after eighteen hundred 
years, exists with wonderful gifts, ecclesiastical and 
intellectual. The divine threefold Ministry is still per- 
petuated; and with the spread of physical science, the 
Christian Church of the nineteenth century seems to 
out-distance the gifts for influence, of even the Church 
of the first century, and the Gospel is preached, if 
not by word of mouth, by the printed page, in the 
unknown tongue of every nation under Heaven. 

Every external spiritual gift seems to abound in 
the Christendom of this century, even though the 
miraculous form of the gift, be not apparent. 

What utterances of eloquence has not modern 
Christendom heard ! What profound knowledge has 
not been manifested by modern Christian philoso- 
phers and scholars ! What help, and governments, 
and machinery for the unity, peace, purity, and edi- 
fication of the Christian Church at large, do we not 
this day possess ! And yet, whilst giving all due 
honor to these powers and gifts, in their place and 



50 



The More ExcelleJit Way. 



degree, what is the actual moral condition of Chris- 
tendom, and of the outlying world, to-day ? ^lillions 
upon millions of souls redeemed by the Crucified and 
atoning Jesus, unenlightened by the glorious light of 
the GospeL The ten-thousand times ten-thousand of 
professing Christendom divided, among themselves, 
and disheartened by outbreaks of moral evils in their 
midst, notwithstanding all the tokens of purity, and 
spiritual power, which undeniably abound ! 

The purity, the peace, the unity, of Christendom 
still form the great problem for discussion, the grand 
subject of inquiry among the good and thoughtful 
people of all ecclesiastical relations. After the prac- 
tical working of the Christian system during eighteen 
centuries and after the application of this system in 
the organized form, and agencies of the Christian 
Church, the divisions of Christendom form the melan- 
choly topic to believers, and of scoffing criticism to 
unbelievers. When the divine Master prayed that 
they all may be one — that the world may believe that 
Thou hast sent ^le — " and, when for failure of such 
unity as the world, with its worldly eyes, can discern 
and reason upon, the divine sonship of Jesus is not 
universally acknowledged — no loving disciple can be 
permitted to dismiss the subject of Christian union 
as unworthy of conscientious consideration, or as a 
phantom of ecclesiastical perfectionism. 

It is a worthy topic then to discuss, by what way 



The More Excelleiit Way. 



51 



shall we, as a practical matter, do most to correct the 
disorders of Christendom at large and of ourselves as 
the individual members of Christ, so that peace shall 
take the place of strife, and Christ shall be glorified 
in the united phalanxes of His Church militant. 

Now there are many ways proposed by good, 
and earnest, and thoughtful men, to remedy these 
troubles. The clearer presentation of the Apostolic 
Faith; the firmer presentation of the Apostolic Min- 
istry; the more vigorous revival of the Apostolic 
Sacraments, and ordinances, and plans of associ- 
ated efforts; a higher grade of scholarship, and cul- 
ture, moral as well as ecclesiastical in the Christian 
ministry; and a more carefully elaborated, and artist- 
ically presented ritual and office for public worship. 
Now in regard to these and similar plans for restoring 
the unity, peace, and purity of the Christian Church, 
one thing is requisite on the part of any one who 
doubts their ability to produce the desired result. 
He must respect those who sincerely propose these 
and similar agencies; he must give them due honor; if 
they be sealed with authority, he must confirm them 
in their proper place as gifts of the Spirit; he must 
give credit, be it the credit of divine authority, or of 
ecclesiastical obligation, or of rational expedience, to 
whatever has a real basis for such credit. 

Before any one is fitted to say with St. Paul, "I 
show you a more excellent way," he must show a 



52 



The More Excellent Way. 



judgment, conscience and sympathy large enough to 
appreciate all other agencies, perpetual or temporary, 
which have their value, in the Church, and he must be 
able to say — "Covet earnestly the best gifts," You 
will carefully note that there is no denunciation, 
though there is a bold declaration of superiority in 
the Apostle's words. 

If any man really believes that the more excellent 
way to restore the breaches of Zion, and the peace 
of Jerusalem, is Charity, he must not fail to appreci- 
ate the other gifts of the Spirit, external though they 
be, lest his Charity become what St. Paul's was not — 
a poor, puny, morbid sentiment. 

It is also essential to notice that St. Paul says, "I 
show unto you a more excellent way" — not an exclu- 
sive and only way. The inspired Physician, who 
would heal the disorders of Christendom, offers a 
prescription, not a panacea. 

When then Charity rather than external spiritual 
gifts, be they what they may, is presented by the in- 
spired Apostle as the way to Christian unity, and 
union, he proceeds on the great evangelical ground- 
truth that Charity is the vitalizing inner gift of the 
Spirit, by which life, and light, and power through 
the Holy Ghost, are conveyed to all the other ex- 
ternal gifts of the Spirit. 

Not to disparage Christ, do we direct the soul to 
the Holy Ghost, to gain a real identification with 



The More Excelle^it Way. 



53 



Christ, but because until the Holy Spirit makes Christ 
in us, we know Him only after the flesh — -a material 
object without us, and apart from us, and therefore 
our knowledge is not saving, our sight of Him is not 
the vision of faith. So, when with St. Paul, Charity 
is presented as the more excellent way to purity, 
peace, unity and union in Christendom, and in individ- 
ual Christians, it is not to disparage any external 
agency which has on it the stamp of authority, be it 
the authority of divine commands, of Apostolic prac- 
tice, of ecclesiastical sanction, of rational expediency, 
of local usage, of personal good taste and good feel- 
ing; but forasmuch as all these gifts, and agencies are 
exte7'7ial, there must be the living power of the in- 
ternal gift, to make them efficient in their respective 
places. Now that internal vivifying, vitalizing gift of 
the Spirit is Charity. The end of the law of God is 
love to God; and the end of all the commandments 
touching men is love to bur neighbor. The object of 
dogma is to excite love to God. The object of Sacra- 
ments and discipline is to protect and increase love 
to man. 

As then the nature of God is declared to be Char- 
ity, for "God is love": and as the eminent badge of 
Christian discipleship is Charity, for thus saith the 
Lord, "by this shall all men know that ye are My dis- 
ciples if ye have love one to another;" — so this gift of 
Charity, or divine love, is the motive power of every 



54 



The More Excellent Way. 



part and of the whole external machinery of the 
Christian system. 

Whatever particular gift of the Spirit you contem- 
plate, whether it be the gift of the form of Creed, or 
of the form of Ministry, or whether it be the gift of 
helps, governments, of eloquence to speak, of learn- 
ing to authenticate the truth; whether it be the 
men, the money, the literature, the political, the 
social advantages at the disposal of the Church — all 
make the gifts of the Spirit, in their degree, yet they 
are all external, and needing the deeper, diviner, more 
excellent gift of the Spirit to make them effective — 
and that gift is Charity. 

You point me to the divine organism of man as 
God made him out of the dust of the earth. I admit 
the wonderful work: — the form is God-like, the pro- 
portions, order, and functions manifest the image and 
likeness of God. But why does not the divine crea- 
tion move.^ Why does he not speak the words of 
God, and do the works of God 

Do you bid me wait until God shall breathe into 
this wonderful organism the breath of life } That 
, spirit of life, then, must be the more excellent, be- 
cause internal and vitalizing gift. Even so, all gifts 
however divine, without Charity, are outward, and 
therefore powerless. 

They are the body — this is the soul; they are the 
organs of life — this is the life itself, the breath or spirit. 



The More Excellent Way. 



55 



Therefore, oh, brethren in Christ — what each one 
needs, what each Parish needs — what each branch of 
, the Christian Church needs — what Christendom at 
large needs here in the end of the age, is just emphat- 
ically what was needed at the beginning of the age — 
Charity. There is disorder in Christendom, it is the dis- 
order resulting from division, discord, contentions; from 
want of forbearance, consideration, courtesy. There 
is sore hindrance to the work of Christ towards the 
conversion of the world, and towards the edification 
of this mystical Body; and the remedy lies not in any 
spiritual gift which is external — however gracious, 
however helpful in its place — but in that gift of the 
Spirit which is the practical embodiment of God the 
Holy Spirit — Charity. 

Yes, let the teaching that Charity, Christian Love, 
is the evangelical remedy for the disorders of the 
Church, and of the individual disciple, be your com- 
fort and support. 

You cannot have this gift of the Spirit without 
daily, hourly seeking for it. 

You cannot act out Charity, except by the pres- 
ence and power of the Holy Spirit Himself He 
who lives most truly the life of Christian love, lives 
most truly the life of the Spirit of God, and of Christ. 

And as all will agree that the ultimate, meritorious 
healing of the disunion and disorders of the Church, 
and of the Christian must come from the Lord and 



56 



The More Excellent Way. 



Giver of Life, who glorifies Christ and administers for 
Him and His dispensation, in which we are living, so 
let all agree that the practical gift of the Spirit which 
gives life and power to all the other gifts — even to 
faith and hope as well as to the Charismata, the ex- 
ternal gifts — is Charity. 

What the sinner needs, what the Christian needs, 
what Christendom eminently needs is to be brought 
under the fire of divine love, so that becoming one 
with Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may 
be purified from sin, and joined together in one Spirit 
and one Body. 

The nearest road to Christian unity and union lies 
along that old, unchanged, more excellent way of 
Charity. Not as excluding any other or all other 
good gifts, divine, apostolical, ecclesiastical, rational, 
or personal — but as including, or perfecting them all. 
Let us have more men, more money, more learning, 
more taste, more prudence, more gifts of utterance, 
and knowledge — let us revive Apostolic faith, and 
hope, almsgiving, and self-sacrifice — and yet let us 
hear, in bolder tones than ever, the inspired words, 
'' I show you a more excellent way." 

Remember, then, that intellectual and material 
agencies have their place and value in connection 
with the peace and unity of the Christian, and of 
Christendom; the divine organism of the Christian 
body has its perpetual value; and human, canonically » 



The More Excellent Way. 



57 



authorized machinery, whether in form, ritual or other 
offices, has its value, but that the ultimate power 
whereby all these external gifts and agencies be- 
come energized so as to bless the world, the Church 
and the individual Christian, resides in God the Holy 
Ghost, whose essential nature and eminent gift is 
love — or Charity. 

" God spake once and twice I have also heard the 
same, that power belongeth unto God," and now the 
evangelical revelation is, that God is loveT 

We confess in the Nicene Creed that God the 
Holy Ghost is the "Life giver," and the highest form 
of life is love, therefore the real life of the Church, and 
of the individual disciple consists in Charity. Do we 
all recognize the presence, the power, and the loving 
work of the Holy Ghost } Do we feel that we are 
powerless without the power of God's Spirit, and that 
the great manifestation of practical power is evan- 
gelical Charity.'* Do we daily, hourly, place our- 
selves by the direct act of will and consciousness, 
in contact with the w^ell-spring of the divine life } 
Do we pray to God the Holy Ghost? Do we pray 
to Him to give us this wonderful and wonder-work- 
ing gift of Charity "i 

Let it be graven on our hearts, — all other forms of 
power, all other gifts of grace, will not avail to convert 
sinners or to build up converts, except the Holy Ghost 
pour into our hearts the most excellent gift of Charity. 



58 



The More Excellent Way. 



Eloqtience^ without this gift of the Holy Ghost is 
babbling. 

Knowledge, without charity is vanity. 

Almsgiving, without it is ostentation. 

Martyrdom, without it is suicide. 

Unless the Holy Ghost illuminate and kindle into 
a living blaze of Charity, these and all other holy 
gifts and holy ordinances, there is no virtue in any 
or all of them to win the benediction of Christ, or 
to promote the peace, unity, and salvation of men. 

The Cross itself is but an instrument of torture 
external to ourselves, until the Holy Ghost makes 
it a living power in our hearts filling them with 
love, so that its precious Victim becomes our only, 
all-sufficient Saviour, and we become, through Him, 
crucified unto the world. 

The Holy Bible is but a book, external to our- 
selves, until the Holy Ghost transfuses His power 
into its words, and they burn their way, by a heaven- 
enkindled Charity, from the printed page into our 
inmost spirit, and reproduce themselves, with loving 
power, in our daily life of Charity. 

The Holy Sacraments are but forms, the Ritual 
of the Church but show, the Prayers but words, and 
godly discipline mere cruelty, until the Holy Ghost 
fills us with love to Jesus, and renders luminous with 
the divine fire of Charity the precious, yet of them- 
selves, external gifts of grace. 



The More Excelleiit Way. 



59 



What we need in these times is a large hearted 
and kindly tone, which without necessarily commit- 
ting one's judgment to another's words or work, still 
honors men of good-will, and sympathizes in their 
honest aims to glorify Jesus. Now this is Charity. 
What this age needs is some outspoken word which 
shall declare the secondary value of all external ap- 
pliances to restore purity, peace and union to a di- 
vided Christendom, but which with a still more out- 
spoken, still more persistent tone shall sound forth 
the more excellent way of Charity. 

Yes, we individuals, and Christians, want the Bap- 
tism of water, and of the Holy Ghost; but we also 
want the promised Baptism of fire. 

O, blessed Jesus, we will dispense with nothing good 
or gracious which Thou hast appointed or allowed, 
but oh, give us in this last age, the fulness of Thy 
promise — " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire." 



SERMON II. 



A LIVING CHRIST — I AM. 

ST. JOHN VIII. 57, 58, 59. 

" Then said the Jervs unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and 
hast Thou seen Abraha?n? yesus said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto 
you. Before Abrahajn tvas, I Am. Then took they up stones to cast at Him.'''' 

I DO not intend on this occasion to dwell upon 
the argument for the essential deity of Jesus, which 
the remarkable assertion in the text, as interpreted 
by those who heard Him, affords. This is indeed a 
most important topic in our controversy with the 
deniers of Christ's proper Godhead, . which has re- 
ceived and ever will receive a just share of attention 
from Biblical scholars. For certainly if any who pro- 
fess and call themselves Christians at this day, can 
doubt the meaning of Jesus' words, and dispute 
whether or not He is to be understood as claiming 
to be of one substance with the Father, very God 
of very God, there was no doubt, no dispute as to 
the meaning of His words by those who heard Him 
speak them, and who understood their precise force. 
If any man can debate in the nineteenth century 
whether Jesus claimed or not to be ''Jehovah," there 
was no debate in the first century, for when He used 



A Living Christ — I Am. 



6i 



that incommunicable name saying-, " Before Abraham 
was, I Am," then took they up stones, to stone Him 
for blasphemy. The men of that day felt that He 
claimed to be God, in the highest sense of the word, 
and they were honest enough in their blind preju- 
dice, to give up the effort to refine, away or limit 
His words, and they were wicked enough in their 
melancholy frenzy, to attempt to put Him to death 
on the spot. 

The statement of our Lord, " Before Abraham was, 
I Am," involves a most practical and inspiriting truth, 
bearing directly on the Christian life. If it be true 
that our Divine Lord, in all the fulness of His power 
to bless, was present as the I Am," in and before 
the days of Abraham, must not His existence be 
wholly independent of what we call time, and must 
it not be likewise true that He is equally present 
with us at this day, who are living about the same 
time since, as Abraham lived before, Christ was on 
earth 

The question of the Jews was altogether natural, 
addressed to the human nature of Jesus. If Jesus 
be only man, the appeal is conclusive: ''Thou art 
not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham," 
who lived nearly two thousand years ago In the 
startling declaration, "Before Abraham was, I Am," 
there is asserted a presence of Jesus, wholly indepen- 
dent of the circumstances of time. And the practical 



62 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



truth which underlies the assertion is this — that Jesus 
is ever present; that time, past or future, as we may- 
account it, does not circumscribe or limit Him. 

It is a radical and prolific error which seems to 
mark much of the literature, and theology, and tone 
of modern Christian thought, that because Christ 
has exalted His human nature to the right hand 
of the Father, and no longer abides on this earth 
visible to the natural eye, He is not still actually 
present to sympathize with us, to encourage, and 
to edify us in our Christian efforts. That in some 
way or other we are worse off than our Apostolic 
Forefathers were, and that by the withdrawal of 
Christ's physical presence, His real presence has also 
departed, and that so we are left to carry on the 
strife with evil at a great disadvantage. The question 
of the Jews, " Thou are not yet fifty years old, and 
hast thou seen Abraham } " seems to embody the 
spirit of our secret and at times open unbelief. The 
question is the same which many Christians are 
asking, only brought to bear on the future. "Jesus 
of Xazareth was not fifty years old at the time He 
died, and does He here at the distance of eighteen 
centuries see us .'^ " And as the answer of Jesus 
came back, in its mysterious assertion of a presence 
before, and with the old patriarch, to cheer and bless 
him; so the living eternal truth which is enshrined 
comes rolling down, through the ages all along, 



A Lii'ijig Christ — / Aui. 



63 



until it meets our ears; and it will pass us, and 
sound its sublime revelations forth into the most 
, distant age, giving comfort to us, and to all after 
us, guaranteeing the presence of a living Lord, 
Who is the same yesterday, to-da}-, and forever, 
Whose name is not "I was" — or "I will be/' but 
'' I Am." 

I Am — Avhat ? Whatever the soul of any one made 
in God's image and likeness truly needs ! Whatever 
calls for the interference of Deity, that, Christ is to 
the soul. I am light to the darkened intellect; I 
am power to the enfeebled will; I am purity to the 
depraved affections; I am pardon to the penitent 
sinner; I am a Friend to the friendless; I am a 
Father to the Fatherless; I am an Avenger to the 
oppressed; I am to you at this day all that, for the 
sanctification and salvation of your souls and bodies, 
you shall be willing to desire, or which the loving 
heart of your Father in Heaven is ready to pour down 
upon His waiting children. 

And all this is not the same as saying that by 
meditation on the past, we may derive, by a sort of 
reflection, some portion of the blessed light which 
centuries ago beamed down upon our favored ances- 
tors, who saw the Saviour of the world with their 
bodily eyes, and heard with their bodily ears His 
gracious words. It was not by a mere study of 
prophecies that Abraham looked forward, with a 



64 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



seer's eye into the distant future, and rejoicing to 
see Christ's incarnation, saw it and was glad. What- 
ever of his joy might have been due to this process, 
— the words of Jesus expressly assert that in and 
before, Abraham's day, He was actually present as 
the I Am," the well-spring and fountain of all joy, 
and that the Patriarch's gladness was a direct ema- 
nation from a present, living, loving, Jehovah. 

And so with regard to the application of the truth 
of the text for this our own day. There is deep in- 
struction, and wholesome encouragement in dwelling 
on what Jesus did for His disciples in Apostolic days, 
but I must contend that, unless we feel the truth 
that we, as well as they, have a present living God 
and Saviour, we are cutting the very tap-root of our 
spiritual strength and sustenance. Jesus is still the 
Am" to us — and after us to them who shall call 
on Him and honor His holy name, He will still be the 
I Am," the present, mighty, loving Lord. We are 
not then compelled to draw all our spiritual refresh- 
ment from the cisterns which our forefathers con- 
structed; but we are permitted to go, even as they 
went, to the fountain-head of living water, which 
resides in the Incarnate Son of God, Who died on the 
cross for our redemption, Who is risen again and ever 
lives to make intercession at God's right hand for 
all, in every age; and Who is as truly with each one 
of us here in this house of God this morning, as He 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



65 



was present in that ancient day when He said — "Be- 
fore Abraham was, I Am." 

If the power of Satan be still present to harass 
us, if the adversary of God and man still lives and 
goes about seeking whom he may devour, Jesus, by 
His all-powerful Spirit is still present to help us to 
resist the evil, and to triumph by His might. Is it 
not strange that many who never think of Satan as 
an evil power that existed only in the past, do seem 
to act as if the adorable Saviour was only a power ~ 
for good in the ages past. 

Beloved, there is a power which goes forth in these 
mysterious words — "Before Abraham was, I Am," 
which all may feel who come under their influence — 
or who come into His presence with a docile spirit. 

That grammatical construction which perplexes 
the mere verbal critic, enkindles a burning flame of 
love in the heart of the uncritical disciple. Oh, what 
would not the Christian world lose, should you change 
the tense so as to make the words of Jesus accord 
with man's form of speech ! " Before Abraham was, 
I was" — that would be a sublime affirmation for a 
man not fifty years old and living eighteen centuries 
ago to make; it would surely, if true, involve the. 
Deity of the speaker, but the extraordinary form, 
"Before Abraham was, I Am," involves something 
more than mere deity: it tells of a present God, 7iear, 
not far off; not simply existing, but existing to help 



66 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



and rejoice Abraham. And so to say that Jesus of 
Nazareth was, and will be — that He will exist after 
we, and this generation, and all generations shall 
have passed away, is if truly spoken, to afiirm His 
Deity in the eternal attributes of His nature; but to 
say that He who was " I Am " to Abraham, " I Am " to 
the Apostles, is still " I Am" to us, is to do something 
more than assure us of Christ's divinity — it is to put 
us in possession of the noblest incentive to zeal, and 
effort, and progress in the Christian life. And such, 
surely no less, is involved in the form of words actu- 
ally employed by our Master in the text. Beloved, 
there is nothing wanting for the accomplishment of 
the sublimest triumph for Christ's disciples whether 
over the visible evil of the world at large, or over the 
hidden sins of our own hearts, but a thoughtful reali- 
zation that Jesus, — the Incarnate Son of God — is pres- 
ent — in all the fulness of His love and power to hear, 
and help us — that He is still to us the " I Am." It is 
only our want of faith that forms the barrier to Chris- 
tian progress; we want faith to lay hold on the glo- 
rious truth, and give it free scope to lead us on to the 
highest conquest over evil. How shall the world, 
present, and appealing to every sense and faculty, be 
overcome except by faith in a present, mighty King, 
whose arm is all-powerful to those who will invoke its 
interference. How shall the Church of the living 
God, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, be preserved 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



67 



and extended, where the most vigorous, actual, and 
actually opposing, obstacles exist, unless by virtue 
of His actual, living presence, who said, ^'Lo! I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 

Or when in the more hidden recesses of the inner 
life, the individual finds himself in contact with a real 
power persuading him to evil, how shall he resist with 
energy, and hope, if the name of Jesus be only " I 
was," or I will be." What the man who is actually 
struggling with temptation wants, is not to be told of 
a mighty power that once was existing to help others, 
or that hereafter will be manifested to fill the earth 
with glory; but he wants an arm, strong and full of 
power, to help him now, at once. He wants a Saviour 
from temptation — a living present Saviour, whose 
name is "I Am," and who manifests Himself and His 
Spirit, no matter by what agency, as both interested 
in his behalf, and actually interfering to save him. 
And such a Saviour is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is 
still, at this time, through the simple and authorita- 
tive ministrations of His Church, and to each one who 
will receive it, present, and present to help, with 
divine grace and power. He is still the I Am," in 
all the fulness of that mighty Name, which from the 
days of the elder Israel has been a memorial Name — 
the comfort, the exceeding great and all-sufficient re- 
ward of His faithful servants. 

Yes, my brother, there is no hour of the day or 



68 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



night in which you lift up your voice for grace, either 
to resist temptation, or to grow more and more into 
the Hkeness of the Holy One, that Jesus is not present 
saying I Am" — I am your helper, your loving Sa- 
viour. There is no peril too sudden to anticipate 
His presence, and to the cry for pity He says at 
once I am your deliverer." There is no sin so deep, 
but, if the cry of penitence goes forth for mercy, 
through the Cross — the great Priest and Victim is 
present, to say, I am your Sacrifice for sin, and I 
absolve you." 

There is no sorrow so huge, no affliction so over- 
whelming, that it can outdrown the gracious tones 
of His gentle voice, who says to the widow and the 
orphan, I am the Father of the fatherless and the 
God of the widow. 

There is no Sacrament or holy rite, there is no 
prayer in secret, or at the family altar, in which an 
earnest soul will seek for grace, that shall not wit- 
ness to a present Saviour. 

There is no worship paid in the great congregation, 
or where two or three are gathered together, which, 
if offered with a faithful heart, shall not be heard by 
Him who has said, Where two or three are gathered 
together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." 
If you want a Saviour from sin, from lukewarmness, 
from the infirmity of even a regenerate nature, Jesus 
whose name is " I Am," is the One, and the only One 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



69 



who can help you. To Him I bid you go, if you are 
in earnest to be delivered from some besetting sin — 
some habit of impurity, or indulgence, which is de- 
stroying your peace of mind, and your hope of 
Heaven. To Jesus, a present Saviour, and making 
Himself known as present in the appointed ministra- 
tions of His Church — in prayer, in Sacraments, in pas- 
toral instruction — in all ministerial offices, as well as 
in the inner voice, which a man's conscience can 
detect, though a man's life may not confess to the 
presence of so unwelcome an intruder on his sinful 
pleasures. 

Do not think, or let others think, that our Chris- 
tian life is only a formal expression of service for a 
Christ that was. I verily believe there is danger 
of our so thinking, and of an unbelieving world's so 
thinking. A present, living Saviour can only be 
known by the signs of life. Love is that sign. Love 
to God, and love to man — love shown in obedience 
to God's commandments: love to man shown in for- 
giveness, forbearance, patience, brotherly kindness, 
and charity. These are the signs of spiritual life; — 
and these will attest in any heart the veritable pres- 
ence of Him whose name is, ''I Am." No man, no 
Church, can live on the memory of the heroic Chris- 
tian deeds of those who have gone before. If there 
have been efforts put forth for God's glory, and the 
salvation of men, by those of other ages, which 



70 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



shame us for our coldness, and want of success — then 
I say, the reason is that we do not realize sufficiently, 
and do not claim as we ought — the power of a Lord 
Who is to us, as to Abraham four thousand years 
ago, the immutable, eternal, " I Am." 

My brother, if you feel your sin cursing you, and 
you seek for deliverance, behold a present Saviour, 
all-powerful and all-loving, who stands beside you 
willing to forgive and wash away your sins, if you will 
confess them, and ask for mercy. 

By the truth of what Jesus ever did for the frailest 
of sinners heretofore, I tell you to believe He will do 
the same for you and all of us, for His name is ''I Am." 

And so if the Christian disciple's heart, looking 
to what are called ages of faith, would crave for 
himself or his Church, larger zeal, and self-denial, 
and more indomitable energy in the work of win- 
ning souls to Christ — let him see to it that larger 
faith in the ever-present Lord be exercised, and more 
loving ventures made upon the truth of His power, 
to help and bless us, in efforts for His glory. Re- 
member the mysterious Name by which in — yea, even 
before Abraham's time. He gave joy and power to 
hearts that rejoiced to see His day. It is a Name 
good for us — a pledge of joy and power to us — Be- 
fore Abraham was, I Am." 

Oh then, beloved, one and all, if you feel impelled 
to cry out in the words of our Litany, " O God, we 



A Living Christ — / Am. 



71 



have heard with our ears and our fathers have de- 
clared unto us, the noble works that thou didst in 
their days and in the old time before them," do not 
allow the exclamation to discourage, but rather to 
encourage your hearts, to utter in new and burning 
faith the reduplicated response, O, Lord, arise, help 
us, and deliver us for thy Names sake!' 



SERMON III. 



" BEHOLD THE MAN." 

ST. JOHN XIX. 5. 

" Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple 
robe. And Pilate saith unto them — Behold the Man^ 

When Pontius Pilate brought forth Jesus, wear- 
ing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and 
said unto the Chief Priests and officers, Behold the 
Man," he seemed to ask a very simple and easy thing. 
But it was too difficult for them to do. They did 
not behold Him, but they let loose their prejudices 
against Him. They did not behold the calm, pale, 
bleeding brow of the insulted Victim, but they con- 
templated their own ideal of One whom they reasoned 
out as a blasphemer, and therefore not pity, but wrath, 
was the response. 

Pilate said, Behold the Man," the intellectual and 
theological representatives of that age beheld their 
own false ideal of the Man, and cried, "Crucify Him, 
Crucify Him." 

One point essential to our beholding the Man 
Christ Jesus, is to have a right estimation of the 



Behold the Manr 



71 



four Gospels Avhich contain the authentic memorials 
of Him. They are not four biographies of Jesus. 
Neither singly nor all together is an}- pretension made 
to give a full history of the life of Christ. On the 
contrary, St. John expressly says that if he should 
give a faithful biography of Christ, the world would 
not hold the books that should be written. 

Each Gospel is a record not only of certain com- 
mon words and works of Jesus, but also of that par- 
ticular view of Him which the Evangelist was inspired 
to take. And the four Gospels, avowedly incomplete 
as mere biographies, are complete in the fourfold 
vicAV they present of Him whom they describe. St. 
John gives the real purpose of the Evangelical his- 
tories when he says, "And many other signs truly did 
Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not 
written in this book: but these are written that ye 
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 
and that believing ye mhght have life through His 
Name." The one grand office of the four Evangelical 
records is to present the I\Ian Christ Jesus on different 
sides of His character, in order to excite in all minds, 
no matter how diverse in national, ecclesiastical or in- 
tellectual prejudices, faith in Him as the Incarnate 
Son of God, the Saviour of the world. 

In this discourse I do not propose to enter into 
very minute details, but submitting to you certain 
general results, and inviting you to confirm or correct 



74 



''Behold the Manr 



them by your own private studies of the Gospels/ I 
ask you to behold the Man as He is presented to us 
in the four evangelical narratives. All agree in the 
main facts of His Birth, Miracles, Crucifixion, Death, 
Resurrection, and Ascension; and all agree in pre- 
senting Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the world's Re- 
deemer, our Lord and our God; but each Evangelist 
presents a special view of Christ. 

St. Matthew presents Him as the Incarnate Head 
of the Kingdom of God, who fulfilled in His person 
and history that which was written by the inspired 
Hebrew prophets concerning their Messiah. 

''That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the 
Lord by the prophet," is the characteristic formula of 
St. Matthew, as pointing us to the miraculous Son of 
the Virgin, he bids us behold the Man, — the only 
Man, Who from His birth to His resurrection from the 
dead, by words and works of power, filled up to the 
full the outline sketched by the inspired Hebrew 
prophets of Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, 
God with us. 

It is St. Mark who bids us behold the Man whom 
Pilate's soldiers insult, and who stands with crown of 
thorns and purple robe, as with the power of God He 
says to the crouching leper, ''I will, b^ thou clean" 
(i. 41); or to the sick of the palsy, "Thy sins be for- 
given thee" (ii. 5); or to the storm on Galilee, ''Peace, 
be still" (iv. 39); or to the dead child, "Damsel, arise" 



''Behold the Manr 



75 



*(v. 40); or to the furious demon, charge thee, come 
out of him." 

By St. Luke, the Man Christ Jesus is brought before 
us as the Divine High Priest, fulfilling in His words 
and works the realities, of which all sacerdotal func- 
tions were and ever will be types or sacraments; guid- 
ing the sinner to repentance, and making atonement 
for sin by the sacrifice of Himself once for all, the very 
and only Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of 
the world. St. Luke's Gospel then is the Gospel of 
atonement and sacrifice, a comment on the words of 
St. John the Baptist, ''Behold the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sin of the world." 

Oh, marvellous Avords ! Never to be explained 
away by referring to the meek, lamb-like personal 
character of the Man who whilst tolerant of the igno- 
rant poor, manifested the ivrath of the Lamb against 
all spiritual pride, as in His awful denunciation of 
woes on the Scribes and Pharisees. 

" Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
of the world ! " Oh gracious words, never to be ex- 
plained except by reference to the predicted work of 
the Great High Priest ! " He hath borne our griefs 
and carried our sorrows — with Whose stripes we are 
healed." 

" Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
of the world ! " Oh words of hope for the world ! 
Never to be wrested from the penitent soul so long as 



76 



'Behold the Manr 



the declaration of the Man Christ Jesus remains on 
record — " The Son of Man is come to seek and to save 
that which was lost," 

Let us finally behold the Man, as the Gospel accord- 
ing to St. John presents Him. He is here brought 
before us chiefly as the One, Who as the Eternal 
Logos, or Word of God — the Divine Prophet — reveals 
perfectly the Nature and Will of the Father, and Him- 
self as the Way, the Truth and the Life; Giver of 
the personal Comforter, God the Holy Ghost. 

It is St. John who bids us behold the Man Christ 
Jesus as the Divine Prophet, declaring the love of God 
and teaching that vital doctrine of true religion that 
love is the badge of Christian discipleship, the life of 
God in the soul of man. 

And now without any speculation as to the un- 
recorded feelings or principles of the Man Christ Jesus, 
but simply according to the record, beholding the 
]\Ian, what is the conclusion to which we arrive as to 
His nature and mission } I ask not what conclusion 
do you wish to arrive at, but what is the honest ver- 
dict of your judgment — whether you wish it or not, 
whether it accord with your previous prejudices or not. 

We are asked to " Behold the Man." We have 
done so. What is the result } 

Here is a Man Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born 
of the Virgin Mary, fulfilling all prophecies as to the 
expected Messiah, possessed of divine power over all 



''Behold the Man!' 



77 



the works of nature, revealing truth in all its fulness, 
suffering and dying, rising again, ascending into the 
heavens, and sending down the Holy Ghost according 
to His promise. Here is a Man who claimed God for 
His Father before the worlds were created, and Whom 
a voice from Heaven affirmed to be the well-beloved 
Son of God. 

What manner of Man is this } The response is not 
to be withheld, " This is God-man, the Divine Re- 
deemer and King of men, the Saviour of the world.'' 
The insulted Victim Whom Pilate brings forth, and 
bids us behold, is our and Pilate's Judge and Lord. 
AVe do " Behold the ]\Ian," and as we listen to His 
divine revelations of the truth, we cannot but confess 
• — this is not merely the superior of Socrates and Plato 
and their fellow philosophers, but He is their divine 
Teacher and Illuminator. 

We " Behold the ]\Ian " as He organizes His Church, 
and, after the experience of eighteen hundred years, 
we say, He is not the founder of a commonwealth 
which by some happy application of His superior 
knowledge of human nature He has made perpetual; 
but He is the Divine Head of the city and kingdom 
of God on the earth, founded by divine power, sus- 
tained by divine wisdom — His Body mystical, — the 
temple of the Holy Ghost — the Church against which, 
by virtue of His promise and presence, the Gates of 
Hell shall not prevail. 



78 



''Behold the Manr 



We ''Behold the Man" as He changes publicans 
and fishermen into unworldly disciples and self-sacrifi- 
cing Apostles and we exclaim — He is not the one who 
evokes by His sublime words and personal example 
the enthusiasm of our nature and so converts the 
erring soul, but He is the bestower to fallen human 
nature of a divine gift from without, whereby God 
dvrells in man by the Holy Ghost, and makes his 
body, soul and spirit a veritable temple of God. 

This is the Man as we behold Him, with the simple 
gaze of our understanding, and as the evangelical 
records present Him. This is He of whom Moses 
and the Prophets did write — Jesus of Nazareth, the 
Incarnate Son of God, the Saviour of the world. 

There is a class of passages which describes Christ 
as simply Man, a helpless child, obedient to His par- 
ents, growing in wisdom and stature, hungry, thirsty, 
without settled home, a carpenter, the wonder of some 
for His learning, the one in whom His disciples grad- 
ually deepened their faith. But there is not one of 
those passages which does not in its immediate con- 
text disclose His divine nature; and an honest sur- 
vey requires every thoughtful student of the Gospels 
to place along with the facts of Christ's perfect Man- 
hood, the other facts which declare His perfect God- 
head. These two classes of facts are so interwoven 
that no one can separate them. The Man, as you 
behold Him, is transfigured into God; and the God 



''Behold the Ma?t:' 



79 



Whose omniscience foretells the fate of Jerusalem 
is at the same moment the Man Who weeps over 
the city's fate. 

He was born, indeed, a helpless babe. But the 
same historic records declare that His birth was the 
subject of prophecy heralded by angels and wrought 
by the power of the Holy Ghost, of a pure Virgin. 
Behold the Man, then, as fully described and what 
sort of a Man is He who is thus bprn into the world } 
Helpless infancy in union with Almighty power — 
This Man-child must be God-Man. It is true that He 
grows in wisdom and stature, but the very same rec- 
ord tells us that at the age of twelve years He aston- 
ished the doctors in the temple by His understanding 
and answers. He was subject to His mother as a 
child, but as a child He spake words which His mother 
could not understand, but which she kept in her 
heart. 

It is true that like a Hebrew man He receives bap- 
tism at the hands of the prophet. But what sort of 
a Man is He whose baptizer was born into the world 
miraculously, to be His herald, and who in the act 
of fulfilling all righteousness is addressed from Heaven 
as the Son of God, whilst the Holy Ghost descends 
upon Him in a bodily shape } 

It is true that He exhibited all the sinless infirm- 
ities of our humanity, — He was tired, hungry, and 
thirsty. But what sort of a Man is He, who is at 



8o 



''Behold the Manr 



the same time, transfigured on Tabor — with the voice 
of the Father declaring Him to be His beloved Son 
whom Moses and Elias and all were to hear ? 

It is true He suffered with all the signs of insult 
inexpressible. But what sort of a Man is He Who 
suffered but never sinned — and who in the midst of 
these sufferings fulfils the ancient prophecies which 
identify the Messiah ? 

It is true that He died the ignominious death of 
the Cross. But what sort of a Man is He Whose 
death quenches the sun at midday, convulses the 
earth, rends the veil of the temple of God 

It is true that He was buried. But what sort of a 
Man is He Who on the third day rises from the dead 
as He had predicted, and after forty days ascends into 
Heaven and gives the divine royalty of the gift of 
the Holy Ghost } 

It is true that He founded His Church on the 
Apostles — for the most part, uninfluential, poor, and 
humble men. But what sort of a Man is He Who out 
of such weak materials has erected the Holy Catholic 
Church, which has outlasted the Roman Empire, and 
stands firm amid the crash of falling states } 

It is true that He ordained the seemingly simple 
Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. 
But what manner of Man is He Who has made those 
simple institutions mysterious channels of Divine 
Grace, as superior in power to ordinary institutions 



''Behold the Maul 



8i 



as the spirit is superior to the body, and the mys- 
teries of God profounder than the common-places of 
men ? 

Now the records of the four Evangelists, and the 
History of Christianit}' tell us all this, and far more, 
concerning the ]\Ian Christ Jesus. It is not possible 
therefore to separate the two natures that are inter- 
laced in every part of the history of this mysterious 
Person. If you behold the [Man at all, you cannot 
help beholding the God-]\Ian. It is heresy in the- 
olog}', and it is an intolerable violation of historic 
truth, for any one with the Gospels before him to 
attempt to separate the human from the divine in 
the ]\Ian Christ Jesus. The divinity is in His words 
as well as in His works; there is as truly a mani- 
festation of the Son of God in the Sermon on the 
Mount, as in the stilling of the storm on Gennesaret. 

There is the God of God as truly in the death on 
the Cross, as in the Resurrection, or the Ascension. 
He who attempts to account for the spread of the 
Christian faith, or to explain the method by which 
Christ's teachings became effectual, without an ex- 
plicit reference to His divinity as the Eternal Word 
of God — is taking only a surface view of the grandest 
moral revolution the spirit of humanity has ever un- 
dergone. He ventures to criticise God. 

Beloved, in closing this sermon, let me say — We 
have accepted the summons of Pilate, we have Be- 



82 



''Behold the Manr 



held the Man, and this is our verdict. '' This is 
the Man who being in the form of God thought it 
not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself 
of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and 
being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Him- 
self, and became obedient unto death, even the death 
of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted 
Him, and given Him a name which is above every 
name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should 
bow, of things in Heaven and things in earth, and 
things under the earth. And that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father." 

Would God that they who are blind might receive 
their sight to behold this Man. 

I pray you, beloved, let my words to you to-day 
live in your hearts. Ever behold the Man — behold 
Him as the Gospels present Him — and let the sight 
of Jesus, your Divine Redeemer, win you to Him, 
and His service. To Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, 
the suffering Victim of the Cross, God manifest in 
the flesh, your Divine Prophet, Priest, and King. I 
point you to behold Him, as during the Fast of 
Lent and in the solemnities of its closing week He 
shall pass before you tempted, insulted, crowned with 
thorns, fainting under the Cross, dead and buried — 
Christ in the darkest hour of His sorrows. Behold the 



"Behold the Man!' 



83 



Man, for He is the Lamb of God that taketh away 
the sin of the world. Behold Him by faith, and be 
you saint or sinner, kneel before Him and say — 

"Just as -I am, without one plea 
But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come." 



SERMON IV. 



PERSONAL SANCTIFICATION, THE PRACTICAL 
OBJECT OF THE GOSPEL. 

COLOSSIANS I. 2. 

'■^Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto 
all patience, and long suffering with joy fulness.'''' 

St. Paul is speaking in the text, of the might, not 
of man, but of God, and of the glorious power, not 
of a human, but of a divine agent. Just recollect 
that fact, and then say whether it is not very re- 
markable that an inspired man should tell us that 
it requires the strength of the all mighty and glori- 
ous power of the great God, to produce such homely 
and unfashionable virtues as patience, long suffering, 
and joyfulness. 

Think for a moment of a writer's beginning his sen- 
tence with such a magnificent exordium as, "strength- 
ened with all might, according to God's glorious 
power," and ending with what is of so little account 
in most people's estimate as "patience and long suf- 
fering with joyfulness." 

Does it take then not simply strength, but "mighty" 
strength, not only that but all mighty strength, to gift 



Personal Sanctification. 



85 



a'man with "patience"? Does it require the presence 
of power, of glorious'' power, of God's glorious 
power, to make us capable of ''long suffering with 
joyfulness " ? 

So it certainly seems from the inspired revealment 
of the text; and therefore, when one looks to his own 
estimate, and to the estimate of many avowed Chris- 
tians of such virtues as are here mentioned, the text 
is, in my opinion, very remarkable, not only because 
of its own intrinsic importance, but also because 
it so notably contradicts and corrects the popular 
opinion as to what constitutes real godliness, and 
what agency alone is adequate to its production and 
growth. 

I begin our investigations into the precise subject 
before us by stating this elementary truth of the 
supreme and irreversible authority of the evangelical 
Scriptures, because it is possible that individuals and 
even large communities of Christians, at certain ages, 
may forget or obscure vital points of their professed 
faith. The splendid promise of the Incarnate God, 
our ever-living and adorable Master, that the Gates 
of Hell shall never prevail against His Church, gives 
no assurance that either in faith or practice, any indi- 
vidual Christian, or any branch of the Church, may 
not err and fall. The Gates of Hell may prevail for a 
time, even against St. Peter, as when that Rock 
shook, and the thrice-repeated denial was heard: 



86 



Personal Sanctification. 



they may prevail — not for a time but forever — as 
against Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve; they may 
prevail against whole branches of the Churchy as in 
the case of the ancient Churches of Asia Minor; but 
the glorious promise of the risen Lord stands sure, 
and the universal body of the faithful is still secure of 
its existence, despite these partial successes of the 
adversary. 

It is no impeachment, therefore, of the truth of 
Christianity, or of the loving care of the Divine Foun- 
der and Conservator of our faith, that obscurations of 
some of its fundamental verities, in dogmas and in 
morals, should at times be seen, even in whole 
Christian communities. 

Let us give heed to the Apostle, and, by God's grace, 
penetrate our minds with the nature of the Christian, 
as he here discloses it. There seems to be among 
many of us Christians at this day a forgetfulness of 
the great practical object of the Gospel of Jesus Christ 
our Lord. That object, as the Master and His in- 
spired followers teach us, is the sanctification of our 
humanity, in body, soul and spirit — the personal 
sanctification of each individual who professes to have 
received the Gospel. The grand practical object of 
the Christian religion, as we derive our information 
from inspired teachings, is to regenerate and convert 
each individual by moulding him into the likeness of 
Christ, helping him to victory over the world, the flesh 



Personal Sanctification. 



87 



and the devil, and enabling him to exercise the very 
graces of which the text speaks and all similar vir- 
tues, "patience and long suffering with joyfulness." 
The great practical object of Christianity is moral 
rather than material; it deals with the spiritual rather 
than the physical. The Gospel does not pretend to 
vie with the elder dispensation in the erection of a 
magnificent temple, with its polished corners of mar- 
ble, and its pinnacles of gold, — the wonder of the 
world in architecture and richness, but it seeks as its 
avowed aim, to make each individual a living temple, 
in body and spirit, worthy, so far as may be, of the in- 
dwelling of the great God. The real aim of all the 
dispensations before our last, has of course been the 
same as ours — to reunite man to his God — otherwise 
there could have been no true religion on the earth, — 
no binding back again, of fallen man to his Creator, as 
the very term religion itself indicates, — but that aim 
was not so plainly avowed as under this our evangel- 
ical dispensation. The glory of the Jewish religion 
seemed to be identified with the gorgeous temple and 
its ritual sacrifices. Judaism appeared to the cursory 
observer to deal with lifeless materials — the Gospel 
dispensation manifestly deals with living men. To 
sanctify them, to help them to be pure, godly and lov- 
ing, to make them patient and forbearing, long suffer- 
ing and cheerful; to introduce a new element into 
the great moral struggle between good and evil, and 



88 



Personal Sanctificatio7i. 



help each one, who is willing to receive it, to get the 
better of evil, as it curses his whole humanity — this is 
the object of Christ's Religion. The Son of God, of 
one substance with the Father, and sharing with Him 
the ineffable glories of the eternal world — left His 
throne and became Man, not in appearance only, but 
in all reality, actually entering into the mysterious 
struggle which since the fall, has been the fearful in- 
heritance of every one of us, and on the issue of which 
our happiness, now and forever, hangs. That mys- 
terious struggle had nothing especially to do with 
mere material works. It never was the object of the 
great adversary of the soul to prevent men from un- 
dertaking brilliant enterprises, or erecting magnifi- 
cent structures, or engaging in splendid intellectual 
struggles of scholarship, science or philosophy. The 
worst ages of the world morally, the worst men of the 
world spiritually — have accomplished in all these 
mere outward forms, works of stupendous magnitude. 

That mighty generation before the flood, when 
there were giants in the earth, men of renown also, 
wxre in morals so depraved that they grieved the 
very heart of God who made them. 

And in modern times what amount of pure relig- 
ion, especially of pure Christianity, has been mingled 
with the mightiest and most brilliant achievements 
by men and nations in their works of conquest, or 
intellect, or high art ! 



Personal Sanctification. 



89 



Does it require the presence of the mighty Spirit 
of God to help us to say or to do anything which 
appears great and glorious to the senses only ? Do 
not think for a moment that it requires a man or a 
community to be strengthened with all might, ac- 
cording to God's glorious power to say or do splendid 
things, merely in the material departments of effort. 
These outward works can be done, they have been 
done, without the power of the Christian's Lord, and 
they have in themselves no inevitable tendency to 
promote or extend His glory. 

It was not for any mere outward work, however 
grand and striking and magnificent, that the Son 
of God became Man; but that in the very body of 
our humanity He might become a i\Ian with us, and 
so be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and 
then teach us, in His own person, the true dignity 
and destiny of our manhood, and give us strength and 
might and glorious power to fulfil that destiny and 
dignity. Had we only needed a cunning master- 
workman to teach us how to glorify God in the 
erection of a material temple, we need not have 
looked up to Heaven to bring down Christ from 
above, for Hiram king of Tyre, and Hiram the 
Vv'idow's son, had long before taught all men, even 
unto the end of the world, how to erect that sort 
of masonry which deals in the Cedars of Lebanon 
and the quarries of Zaredathah. But what our fallen 



90 



Personal Sanctification. 



race wants is some master-workman, — more than man, 
— who shall be able to go down to readjust by a 
divine rule and measure the very foundations of our 
humanity, which have been shaken by the great first 
sin and its consequences. What the world, what our 
race, what each individual, wants, is some one who 
can help us to erect a spiritual temple of purity, 
and godliness, and charity, which shall be within us, 
and part of us, and we parts of it, so that when this 
solid earth shall reel, and all that is in it shall be 
burned up, that spiritual temple shall endure, and 
become brighter, and more glorious, even an abid- 
ing place of the great God — Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost. 

In short — the practical object of the Gospel is to 
make the man, the whole man, body, soul and spirit, 
Christ -like, and therefore fit to dwell with Christ 
forever. Therefore it is that the less brilliant, less 
thought of, less cared for, graces of patience, and long 
suffering with joyfulness, and all their kindred virtues, 
which spring from love of God, and love of our neigh- 
bor, are of the essence of vital godliness.; they are 
the tests of the evangelical spirit, the real fruits of 
the presence of Christ. Therefore it is that whilst 
it does not necessarily require Christianity, or any 
supernatural power to say or do great and splendid 
things, which catch the eye and ear of the world, 
and attract or awe by their magnitude or worth, it 



Personal Sanctification. 



91 



does take the Gospel and its divine energy to say 
and do in heart and life, that which is loving, gentle 
and truthful. 

Oh, it does not require the strength of God to 
build even a greater Coliseum than that grand old 
Flavian Amphitheatre in Rome, but it does require 
the strength of God and nothing less, to build up 
in one's heart, and life, the structure of self-control, 
temperance, purity, forbearance, .charity. I take it 
therefore to be the very sign and token of the highest 
inspiration, that the Apostle in the text declares 
that we must be strengthened with all might, ^'ac- 
cording to God's glorious power," in order that we 
may be disciplined and moulded unto "patience, and 
long-suffering, with joyfulness." 

We may not doubt that St. Paul, when he thus 
connected the divine power with these divine virtues, 
confirmed the suggestions of inspiration by the con- 
sciousness of personal experience. He had doubt- 
less felt how much harder it was to be patient, and 
long-suffering, and joyful, than to head a gallant 
band of horsemen and travel from Jerusalem to 
Damascus, for vengeance on the sect of the Naza- 
renes. He, doubtless, knew that it was easier to 
master the classic learning of the famous schools of 
Tarsus, and even to possess himself of the Rabbin- 
ical lore of Gamaliel and the Hebrew philosophers, 
than to master himself and know himself and edu- 



92 



Personal Sanctifi cation. 



cate his heart and body into the humble, self-denying 
loving image of Jesus, whom he had once persecuted. 

Many Christians of this da}', and communit}'. scciii 
to have forgotten the grand object of our faith and 
profession. There are countless organizations of a 
public sort, vith all the machinery of officers, and 
m.embers, for the spread of the Gospel; there is 
earnest ecclesiastical attack and defence going on, 
on all sides, for dogmas, polities, and rituals; and 
there is no lack of Bibles, and Churches, Christian 
literature and Christian art. But where are the in- 
creasing multitudes of regenerate, converted, and 
sanctined men, women, and children, vdiich ought 
to be the first, chief, all-engrossing tokens of a living 
Church, and a present, living Saviour 

What Christ asks for, what His divine and glorious 
power is gi\-en for, what the means of grace are sup- 
plied for, is to make us humble and hoi}-, forbearing 
and forgiving, patient, meek, sober, honest, truth- 
loving, compassionate, unselfish, charitable. To pass 
through the world, in it but not of it, using but not 
abusing it; acting our part honestl}-, and not shrink- 
ing from our posts like cowards or traitors; doing our 
duty in the real work of life, so that men may know 
that we can, and will, do our share in all that is 
manly, or woman!}-; not, " winding ourselves too high 
for mortal man beneath the sk}-,"' but shov-ing that 
we have, and desire to have, all generous and genial 



Personal Sanctification. 



93 



sympathies, not affecting to be angels, because we 
decline to be devils, — praying, fasting, and denying 
ourselves, and using the means of grace, that Ave may 
grow more and more to be like Christ, and so to be 
better neighbors and friends and citizens, whilst we are 
becoming better Christians, and sons of God — Oh, this 
requires indeed that Ave should be "strengthened Avith 
all might," this requires that Ave possess nothing less 
than the glorious poAver of God. 

Let each one, then, test himself, not by the spirit 
or standard of the age, but by the rcA^elation of Jesus 
Christ his Lord, and see Avhether he be fulfilling the 
Avork, the great practical Avork for Avhich Christ came 
to earth and re\'ealed the good ncAvs of His perfect 
and finished Atonement. Let us look to our hearts — • 
let us keep guard over the thoughts, the Avords, the 
acts of our daily life, and Ave shall see not only Avhat 
Ave are, in the omniscient judgment of God, but hoAV 
truly it requires His glorious poAver to help us to con- 
form ourselves to His holy Avill and Gospel. 

Oh, brother, you Avho are dazzled by the splendors 
o^the outside Avorld, Avho seek for yourself those bril- 
liant achievements Avhich shall make men praise you, 
AA^ho despise the virtues of moderation, temperance, 
purity, control of the tongue and temper, forgiveness, 
patience, long-suffering, and cheerfulness, let me tell 
you that you are Avalking along a broad and easy 
path, Avith no great difhculties, after all. to be over- 



94 



Personal Sanctification. 



come. Yes, notwithstanding you tell of the strug- 
gles of genius and the difficulties of success, you have 
not yet begun to know what real fighting and strug- 
gling are. 

Any true Christian disciple can tell you that with 
all your contempt for him, and his work, you do not 
yet know what real hard work is. You think it takes 
almost superhuman might to be great in the eyes of 
the world; — try, and see what sort of might it takes 
to be great in the eyes of God. You think it demands 
almost God-like powder to master the higher problems 
of law and government, and science of all kinds; — try, 
and see Avhat sort of power it takes to master that 
science which begins its teachings with the proposi- 
tion, "Love God with all your heart and soul and 
mind, and your neighbor as yourself" 

O man of the world ! I do not underrate either 
your objects or your powers, nor would I overrate the 
objects and the powers of men of God, but this I do 
5 ay, — and may the good Spirit of the Lord help you 
to take up the challenge which I now give you, — you 
will find it more difficult, more worthy of your man- 
hood, more glorious and soul-satisfying than any 
other pursuit you have yet undertaken, if you wdll be- 
gin from this moment to practise the precepts of Jesus, 
your only Saviour and Redeemer. You have known 
perhaps, what it is to master others — begin to-day to 
know what it is to master yourself You have known 



Personal Sa^ictification. 



95 



how pleasant it is to think and speak and do without 
restraint, as you please; — begin now to know how 
pleasant it is to think and speak and do with restraint, 
and as God pleases. You knoAV the dignity of your 
human nature in revenging, in returning like with like; 
— begin here and now to know the dignity of the divine 
nature within you, by practising patience and long- 
suffering, forgiveness, and returning good for evil. 
You have known — and the knowledge is death eter- 
nal — what it is to be strengthened with the power of 
evil, to be selfish, covetous and worldly; — begin now 
to know — and the knowleds;-e is life eternal — Avhat 
it is to be "strengthened Avith all might, according to 
God s glorious power, unto all patience and long-suf- 
fering with joyfulness." 



SERMON V. 



CHRIST'S CALL. 

ST. MATTHEW IV. 21, 22 ; ACTS IX. 3, 4. 

And going on from thence. He (Jesus) saw other two brethren, Jmnes 
the son of Zebedee, and fohn his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their 
father, mending their nets ; and He called them. And they left the ship 
and their father, and followed HiiJi.'''' 

'■'■And as he (Saul) jovtrneyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly 
there shine d round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and 
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?''^ 

We have here brought together the record of the 
different modes by which our adorable Master called 
men to His service. John and James are called in 
the midst of their daily work. Saul of Tarsus is 
called whilst engaged in a bloody enterprise, breath- 
ing out threatenings and slaughter. James and John 
are called from the humbler classes of social life; 
Saul from among the highest in birth, in civil privi- 
leges, in religious, and literary attainments. 

The former are called in the ordinary tones where- 
with a man speaks to his fellow-man: the latter is 
called in words which mingle more than human 
tenderness with more than human authority. The 
sons of Zebedee are called with no supernatural 
disclosures of the divine presence; Saul is called, 
amid the blinding effulgence of a supernatural light, 
and with the Incarnate God personally disclosing 



Chrisfs Call. 



97 



Himself in the mysterious address, Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me ? " And yet, amid all these 
circumstantial variations, the call of Christ is sub- 
stantially one and the same — to leave all and devote 
themselves, body and spirit, to His service. Why 
is it, with a willingness to attend at Church, to 
read on religious topics, to listen to sermons, to 
contribute to Christian, and benevolent objects, and 
in all ways to indicate a respectful decorum towards 
religious subjects, persons and places, there is still 
a practical rejection of the distinctive faith and obe- 
dience of the Gospel ? These questions are worthy of 
discussion; they must be debated and decided, or 
we shall go on, pastors preaching, and people lis- 
tening — with nothing accomplished beyond keeping 
up the decent solemnities of a public ritual. If it 
can be shown that whilst many have been waiting 
for a call to Christ's service, that call has been ac- 
tually sounding in their ears — if it can be shown 
that whilst they have been watching for the propi- 
tious occasion to openly devote themselves to Christ, 
that occasion has been, and is now offered — a very 
popular excuse with many, for delaying a godly life, 
will be removed. And here let it be understood that 
in speaking of the call of Christ, I am using the least 
technical words that I can command. In using this 
expression then, "Christ's call to His service," I mean 
to affirm just what you mean to deny, when you say 



98 



Christ's Call. 



that the right time, place, and circumstances, have 
not yet come for your open and avowed confession of 
Christ as your God and Saviour. When people say 
to themselves, or to those who love their souls, that 
they have not sufficient leisure for a Christian life, 
or that they have not felt that impulse, or conviction, 
or whatever it may be, that they ought to devote 
themselves to Christ; when they go on to add that 
perhaps, some time or other, the time will come, 
and then they will follow the inward monitor prompt- 
ing them to a godly and Christian life — when people 
thus speak, they assume as a fact what is not a 
fact. And what I seek, is to convey the most em- 
phatic denial of the alleged fact. Christ has called 
you to His service. Leisure, impulses, convictions, 
propitious times — all have been yours; you need not 
wait for them as if they were yet to come, they have 
come; they are yours already. All the leisure that 
is necessary to hear that call, all the circumstances 
which could make it effective, have been and are 
now attending you; for that call of Christ, which 
you think requires something more than you yet 
possess, is independent of circumstances — it comes 
at all times, in all places, under all circumstances; 
it comes to the man of business and the man of 
idleness; it comes to the day-laborer and to the 
scholar, to fishermen and men of war, to those who 
abide with their parents, in the quiet pursuits of 



Chrisfs Call. 



99 



every-day life, like James and John, beside the sea 
of Galilee in their father's ship, and to those who 
throw themselves, body and soul, into some brilliant 
and even sinful enterprise, like Saul of Tarsus with 
his chosen band, on their way to Damascus. 

The call of Christ, which summons us to His ser- 
vice, is that voice which has whispered in various de- 
grees of clearness, the same testimony in behalf of 
God and duty, to every soul of man made in the image 
and likeness of God. It is the voice of Him who says 
that He is the light which lighteneth every man 
that Cometh into the world, and who has given light 
enough to every man to know God and follow Him. 
The call of Christ, of which I am noAV speaking, has 
come to every one whom I now address, in the in- 
structions of childhood, in the warning of youth, in the 
upbraidings of after life. It has come in a mother's 
gentle solicitations to her erring child, in the sterner 
discipline of startling providences, in the ever-uttered 
testimony of the Christian Church. It has no fixed 
outward form, it is bound to no one external method, 
it is controlled in its utterance by no human dialect. 
It speaks in all languages, it can be comprehended 
by all ages and classes of men. To those who attend 
upon the services of the Sanctuary, to those who never 
go to Church, Christ's call is given. To those who 
spend their life in advancing or in hindering the Gos- 
pel, the call of Christ is made. To some it comes as 



lOO 



Christ's Call. 



to James and John, in the calm, quiet tones of a man 
pleading with his fellow. A friend's admonition, a 
Pastor's sermon, the announcement of Confirmation, 
a good book, God's blessed volume, may be the meth- 
od by which it makes itself heard, and without any 
violence of feeling, without any signs of outward ex- 
citement, the result of hearing the call is seen, as in 
the case of the sons of Zebedee, by a calm, unobtru- 
sive, resolute forsaking of all for Christ. To others, 
again, Christ's call comes as it did to Saul, amid 
tokens of great excitement; — with heart, and even 
body, trembling beneath the violence of the sudden 
appeal, ''Saul, Saul!" But to one and all, it is 
known by what it says. ''Love Christ, trust in His 
cross, and make Him and His Gospel the glory of 
your life-long efforts." Whether to the fishermen, or 
to the maddened persecutor, it speaks the same thing 
— though in words so diverse. And there is no one 
who is listening to me, who may not, and ought not, 
to detect for himself that it was spoken to him by this 
infallible test — the nature of the message; viz., to sur- 
render himself, soul, body and spirit to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

Beloved, you who have been passing on for years, 
without the consecration of yourselves to Christ and 
His Gospel, do not say any longer that you are waiting 
for Christ to call you, waiting for some token that 
your duty is clear as to an open acknowledgment 



Christ's Call. 



lOI 



of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the call has been 
made, it is now made, and you must not fail to 

f identify it in the secret voice which tells you, as it 
has often told you, that you are wrong in not con- 
fessing Him before the world. Who died upon the 
cross to save you from sin and death. You have 
been at your ordinary work — in the counting-room, 
in your study, on the exchange, or wherever your 
work called you — and somehow or other you have 
thought of God, of Christ, of eternity, of your Chris- 
tian duty — but the thought came and went, you 
could not tell how or why; and so perhaps you have 
said to yourself, " It was strange I should have thought 
of such solemn things at such a time, but it was a 
mere circumstance not to be noted, and of course 
not of such power as to lead to any result." Now 
that was Christ's call to you. It was as loud, morally, 
as if it had shaken the solid globe with the thunder- 
ings of Sinai. Again, you have been suddenly in 
danger of .death; an accident has from full health 
put you upon the very threshold of the eternal world, 
and you have thought, yes, and you have said too 

. perhaps, it was a lucky chance that I was not taken 
away, for I was not prepared to go; but the accident 
passed, your life was preserved, and as a matter of 
course, being only an accident, you have thought that 
you are not required to make overmuch account of 
it. Now tJiat accident was Christ's call to you: and 



102 



Christ's Call. 



could any trumpet call have told you more plainly 
how utterly unprepared you were to stand before the 
heart-searching Judge of all ? Again, you have come 
into the sanctuary of God, you have listened to God's 
Word, read and preached, and you have thought to 
yourself — I am a sinner; the life I now lead is wrong, 
but Jesus Christ hath died for sin. He is the Lamb 
slain from the foundation of the world; but you have 
passed on unchanged, with the reflection that it was 
an ordinary service, only a sermon, and that no such 
extraordinary result could be expected, as that then, 
and there, should be seen, the beginning of a godly 
life. 

Now that was Christ's call, as truly so, as if in- 
stead of speaking through His appointed and ordinary 
agencies and ministers, He had appeared in all His 
glory, and spoken personally, with supernatural signs 
of His presence, as of old He spoke to Saul, on his 
way to Damascus. 

It is upon the fact that Christ's call is made in all 
ways, that I wish to concentrate your thoughts. We 
shall miss Him, we shall not heed His voice if we do 
not fix this great truth in our hearts. As it has been 
with many, in times past, so will it be with them for 
the future, if they identify Christ's call with any ex- 
ternal tokens of pomp, or power — with any carnal 
signs whatever, — they will not hear it. Christ has 
indeed appointed' in His Word and Church certain 



Chrisfs Call. 



103 



well-defined instrumentalities by which He speaks 
formally and publicly; but beyond this, and within 
the department of practical thought, of which this 
sermon treats, there is no way of identifying the 
voice, except by what it says, and that saying is al- 
ways the same — repent of sin, love Christ, have faith 
in Christ; act faith in Christ, by keeping His com- 
mandments. All then that I ask of any one who 
listens to me is to confess to his own conscience, 
whether he has not been led, at some time or other, 
to think of his sins, of a Saviour from sin, of his duty 
to God; whether he has not often thought of these, 
and their kindred topics ? and then to identify such 
suggestions with that definite call to devote himself 
to Christ, which he may still be waiting for, and 
almost lamenting that he has not had, or cannot 
have. 

There is no other call to be given, save that 
which has been given. Circumstances may indeed 
arise which may arrest you, and make you think 
that now Christ speaks, but recollect that circum- 
stances may also arise which shall take you out of 
this world, with no other sign of Christ's call than 
those which you have already had. Besides, if you 
identify Christ's call to you with any class of circum- 
stances, your religious life will go as it came, with cir- 
cumstances. Listen to Christ, not to circumstances, 
use all the means which may be supplied you to 



104 



Christ's Call. 



deepen the impression of His heart-searching and 
loving words; but listen to the words of Jesus, open 
your hearts wide to their heavenly influence, seek the 
grace of God that you may conform your life to their 
spirit, and pray daily, yea hourly, for the aid of the 
Holy Spirit to develop and perfect them in your 
Christian life. 

When you are tempted to slight, as unimportant, 
some accident, place, person, or object, which has re- 
vived for a moment a thought of sin, or of Him who 
died on the cross for sin, and of your bounden duty 
to devote yourself and all you have to Christ, oh! 
recall, I pray you, the incident which the first half of 
my text recites. See these two brother fishermen at 
their work, mending their nets, in the ship with their 
father; see what an unexciting, every-day look things 
have; see again, a wayfarer passes by, a mere trav- 
eller, by accident walking beside the lake shore. He 
comes. He looks at them and calls them, and passes 
on His way. Oh, what now, with all your knowledge 
of that wayfaring man, would you advise those 
brothers to do.? Shall they take that summons to 
leave all for Him, as worth a moment's consideration } 
Say you, "Why, it is the call of God!" But perhaps 
not; the words are so calmly spoken, and He who 
speaks them is so humble, and all around so unlikely 
to be the place where God should be, that perhaps 
you mistake, and those brothers had better keep on 



Chrisfs Call. 



105 



mending their nets, attending to their work, and not 
heed the strange suggestion to leave all for Christ. 

But, say you again, "Christ is God; and His call, 
be it in tones that shake earth and Heaven, or in tones 
that would not disturb the slumbers of an infant, 
Christ's call must be heard, it is eternal death if it be 
unheeded, for He is very God of very God." 

Then go, my brother, and act out your most rea- 
sonable principles. Think and pray over the subject 
which we have now examined. Go, and ask no more 
for a light like that which struck Saul to the earth, 
before you recognize the presence and call of Jesus; 
but recognize it as you would have the sons of Zebe- 
dee recognize it, amid the simplest, homeliest, least 
exciting scenes of daily life. 

In the contrast which our text gives us between 
the unexciting call of the fishermen, James and John, 
and the wonderful conversion of St. Paul, we have 
the lesson taught that Christ calls men of all classes 
to His service, and that He employs all means to 
move them to obedience. Whether then, we have 
wronged our loving JNIaster by overmuch devotion to 
secular cares, or persecuted Him by deep criminal sin 
— secret, or of conscience — in the more open appeals 
of Christian friends, and the Christian ministry, hear 
Christ, obey Him, confess Him, follow Him, whether 
He speaks in the words of some friend who soothes 
your feelings by his considerate kindness, or in the 



io6 



Chrisfs Call. 



words of some harsher, yet honest friend, who, in the 
effort to save your soul may have dashed you, like 
Saul, to the earth, by the violence of his loving, but 
over-earnest zeal. 

Let your simple desire be to hear your Saviour's 
voice, and whether it speaks to you in church, or at 
home, in the solemn services of the week, or the 
ordinary occurrences of every day, in the street or at 
your work, heed it as you value eternal life. You 
cannot fail to know it, for it calls to repentance for 
sin, to unreserved confession of sin to God, to imme- 
diate abstinence from all occasions and provocations 
to sin, to faith in Him who died upon the cross for 
sin, to obedience to His Gospel, and to the confession 
of His name before the world by lip and by life. 
You cannot fail to know it for it calls to the com- 
plete unreserved surrender of your entire self, soul, 
body and spirit, to the claim of Jesus and His Gospel. 



SERMON VI. 



GLORIFY CHRIST. 

ST. JOHN XV. 26; XVI. PART OF I4TH VERSE. 

" W7ien the Comforter is come, vjJiom I will send unto you fro^n the 
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He 
shall testify of me. . . . He shall glorify me.''' 

When our adorable Master came into the world, 
and during His thirty years' residence amongst men, 
after the flesh, although there were attestations to 
His divine character, strong enough to reach the dis- 
ciplined and waiting eye of faith, yet to the majority 
of men. He was only a Man of sorrows, and ac- 
quainted with grief. The transfiguration on the holy 
mount was an exception to His ordinary appearance, 
and even its radiant demonstration was made in the 
presence of His three chosen Apostles, who were to 
tell no one of the sight until after the resurrection. 

As He lived amid signs of humiliation, so He died 
with the ignominy of the cross, and the revilings 
of the priests and people. He was upon earth, its 
Maker, and its Redeemer, but it knew Him not. He 
went in and out amongst men, the very foundation 
and source of spiritual and temporal health, and they 
knew Him not. 



io8 Glorify Christ. 

But now that He has gone from us in the flesh, and 
the Comforter has come, He has testified of Christ, by 
demonstrating that Christ is very God, and very Man, 
and that His Hfe of humiliation, and death of sorrow, 
are a perfect sacrifice for all the sins of the whole 
world. Wherever the Gospel of Christ has found its 
way, whether into the heart of an individual or into 
the heart of a nation, there the Holy Ghost the Com- 
forter has carried it, be the human agents what they 
may; and there He has carried it as a testimony to the 
power and glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

As nation after nation has renounced idolatry, and 
entered within the precincts of Christendom, the work 
of the Comforter, glorifying Christ, has been wit- 
nessed. In every soul that has turned from its evil 
way, and found peace in the blood of the cross, in 
every penitent, weeping over his sins against a loving 
Father, disclosed to him in the Gospel of Jesus, in 
every steadfast Christian, humbly following Christ, 
and boldly confessing that Jesus is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father, and in that great Name triumphing 
over the temptations of Satan, and the allurements of 
a wicked world, there the work of the Comforter tes- 
tifying to Christ has been manifested. 

We must not restrict our thoughts to second causes, 
in the great work of spreading the Gospel in the world 
at large, or in the heart of the individual, under this 
last dispensation; these secondary agencies may be, 



Glorify Christ. 



109 



Christian ministers, or books, or Sacraments, — the 
real, ever-present, energizing personal agent is the 
Holy Ghost the Comforter. It is the third Person of 
the Godhead that works in us both to will, and to do 
that which is acceptable. It is He who speaks in 
every successful sermon, in every effective book, and 
who works in every holy institution, Sacrament, rite, 
or service, which avails toward the sanctification or 
salvation of souls. 

It is but dealing with the surface view of things, 
to dwell upon the visible agent in promoting the glory 
of Christ. Wherever a true testimony to Christ's Gos- 
pel is borne, wherever His true nature is unfolded, 
and His loving work propounded, wherever Christ is 
so presented as to become to any soul all and in all, 
there is the work of God the Holy Ghost. It is not 
men, nor eloquence, nor money, nor burning zeal, 
which has spread, or will ever spread, the Gospel of 
Christ throughout the world; — but men full of the 
Holy Ghost, eloquence kindled by the Holy Ghost, 
money humbly offered, and zeal which outwardly ex- 
presses the indwelling and power of the Comforter. 

There is no true glory won for Christ, that is not 
won by the mighty energy of the Spirit of God. And 
whenever that glory has been sought, apart from this 
Divine Spirit, and His acknowledged agency, it has 
not endured. You will not understand history, sec- 
ular or sacred, aright, if you do not apply to your 



no 



Glorify Christ. 



reading the truth that we are now affirming. You 
will wonder to see how nations, Churches, and indi- 
viduals who at one time professed that Christ was all 
and in all to them, have become darkened with sin; 
the glory which seemed won for Christ has departed, 
and Christ has been crucified afresh, and put to open 
shame. If pride, ambition, unholy rivalry or party- 
spirit, have stirred up the individual, or the many, to 
Christian exertion, then the testimony to Christ which 
may seem to be borne, is not a lasting witness: that 
can only come from the work upon the heart — of the 
pure, gentle, peaceful, loving Spirit of God. 

Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and there- 
fore is neither to be established, nor measured, by the 
agencies which belong to this world. The true testi- 
mony to Christ's power is borne by righteousness, 
humility, forbearance, peace, purity, and charity, the 
fruits of the Holy Ghost. Christ is glorified only 
where the exaltation of truth, and holiness, and jus- 
tice, and mercy is seen, and this is the work of the 
Spirit. With earthly kingdoms, physical power is 
their glory: with Christ's kingdom it is spiritual 
power which advances His glory. With the world 
mighty with Christ rights is the occasion of glory. 
The continual cry of the Cherubim and Seraphim 
declares not the omnipotence, nor the wisdom, nor 
the eternity of the Godhead, but the holiness — ''Holy, 
holy, holy. Lord God of Sabaoth." 



Glorify Christ. 



Ill 



But I must ask you to concentrate your thoughts 
upon the practical conclusion to which the text leads, 
and which bears upon the personal duty of each one 
of us. If the controlling work of the Comforter in 
this present dispensation be, as it certainly is, to 
testify to Christ; have we not the great work which 
it becomes every one of us to engage in, plainly set 
before us ? If God the Holy Ghost has come upon 
the earth expressly to bear testimony to Christ, is 
not this the highest, noblest, truest work for each 
man upon earth to engage in ? The text, therefore, 
involves the great truth that each one of us has a 
work to do; a definite, unmistakable, elevated work; 
viz., to act as agent and co-worker with the Holy 
Ghost, in glorifying Christ, in bearing testimony by 
lip, and life, to the power of His Gospel, and the 
sufficiency of His salvation. 

I do not say that this is the duty of true Chris- 
tians only, it is the work of every man who has been 
redeemed by Christ, and who has an interest in the 
eternal life which Christ offers to every man. And 
I desire to have the attention of those who seem to 
think that a preacher has no word for others than 
avowed, and practical Christians; who listen as if they 
themselves had no concern with his instructions, or 
entreaties. Beloved, the work for all of us to do is this: 
by the aid of God's Spirit to testify to the truth and 
power of Christ — to glorify Him by a personal sur- 



112 



Glorify Christ, 



render of our hearts to His faith — our wills to His 
will. 

I come then, to the man of business, the pro- 
fessional man, the mechanic, the day-laborer, to all, 
and say, Brother, we have a great and glorious work 
given us to perform; a work for which God made us, 
and keeps us in being, and the issues of which will 
be felt throughout eternity — the work of testifying 
to Christ. Let us give ourselves, by God's grace, to 
its instant, hearty discharge. This is not the same 
as saying you must lay aside your daily duties, or 
grow slack in your lawful callings. There is no in- 
consistency between the following of Christ, and the 
righteous discharge of every work appertaining to our 
post in life. Christ's religion has a place for business, 
as well as for prayers. ''Six days shalt thou labor," 
is as much a part of the Decalogue as '' Remember 
the Sabbath day to keep it holy." It is a part of 
our Christian duty to do our proper work manfully, 
and with fidelity, looking to Christ's command as our 
authority — ''Render unto Caesar the things which be 
Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." 

The assertion that our great chief work in life is 
to testify of Christ, is a call to believe that we fulfil 
that work when we make Christ the centre of our 
thoughts, and hearts; His will the rule of action, in 
prayers, in business, and in pleasure; in church, and 
in the world: to make business, pleasure, life, not the 



Glorify Christ. 



113 



end, but the means; to recollect that He who is our 
Divine Redeemer, our only merit before God, is also 
our Brother in flesh and blood, an example of upright- 
ness, mercy, and fraternal love in intercourse with men. 

Let no one say then, that he has nothing to live 
for; or that he is too humble, or that his powers of 
mind or influence are too circumscribed ! Let no 
one say, What time have I to think of Christ or His 
glory, who am bound to labor at hard, and perhaps 
lowly work all day long? Oh, beloved, is it not a 
blessed memory to dwell on, that ''The Holy Ghost 
has been given to every man to profit withal," and 
that Christ Himself was humble, lowly, toiling, hard- 
working? Is it not a blessed fact to know that He 
has consecrated to Himself all ages, estates, and con- 
ditions of men; that all might testify of Him, by show- 
ing in their several degrees, the signs of His presence 
and power ? 

My brother, you who complain that you are unable 
to testify of Christ, because you are poor, and because 
all your time is given to the mere matters of food and 
raiment, I feel for you — but be of good cheer — you can 
testify to Him who hungered, thirsted, and had not 
where to lay His head, by showing how your Christian 
principles can gift you, in all your trials, with patient 
fortitude, with hopefulness, and trust in God, His 
Father, and your Father. It is not so hard to testify 
to these things when plenty and prosperity abound. 



114 



Glorify Christ. 



Patience, and cheerfulness, and hope are not so dif- 
ficult from the lips of the rich, and luxurious; but they 
are indeed, witnesses to an indwelling, and divine 
power, when they come from the poor man, who be- 
gins his day with the petition Give us this day our 
daily bread," and goes forth to find the work, he 
knows not where, that shall, by God's providence, ful- 
fil the petition. 

You Avho are in trade, witness to Christ by your 
strict integrity; you who are in high places of honor, 
by your uprightness; you who are exalted to be our 
law-makers, and law judges, by your impartiality, and 
equity. 

To all there is the message, your work is to testify 
of Christ; Christ who took upon Himself your nature, 
and redeemed you by His blood— who ascended to 
the Father, and has sent you the Holy Spirit, to give 
you the knowledge of God and of your duty — who 
will judge you at the last day. 

Beloved, let us one and all, recognize our great 
work; let us give ourselves resolutely to "its discharge. 
Let us invoke daily and more earnestly the presence 
and help of the Holy Ghost the Comforter. Let us 
pray to the Holy Ghost, and for the Holy Ghost, 
that we may feel that He is present with and in us. 
Let us rely upon His aid as upon the aid of a living, 
loving, Divine Person, present for the express purpose 
of testifying, and helping us to testify to Christ. 



Glorify Christ. 



And is not Christ worthy of all the glory which 
mortal hearts, lips, and lives can give Him ? Did He 
not leave the glories of the upper world, to live and 
suffer and die in this sin-defiled earth, that He might 
redeem and save us ? Is it not for His sake that we 
receive every good gift, every blessing of home and 
friends; of happiness here, of salvation hereafter? Oh, 
brothers in Christ, it is a glorious calling to which 
we have been summoned. Let us fulfil it. Let us not 
be weary in this noble work of holding up Christ as 
all and in all to us; our reward shall come. Let us 
have faith, and wait in patience for the coming of that 
glorious Pentecost when Jesus shall show Himself to 
us in all His glory, and we shall know, even as we are 
known. 

The poor man, and even the child, can testify 
of Christ, as well as the richest and the oldest. The 
sick sufferer, in his loneliness, can glorify Him by 
that patience, and hopefulness, the very reproduction 
of Christ's meek temper. And they who are thrown 
aside by the world, as too poor, or too old, or too 
infirm to be of any use, can and may, under the 
impulse of glorifying Christ, excel in loving efforts 
and the exercise of Christ-like virtues; so that the^ 
last may be first, and the first last, in the day of 
final account. Men of the world seek for high station, 
great wealth, powerful influence, lofty talents, as the 
avenues to lead to glorious results. The well-in- 



ii6 



Glorify Christ. 



structed man of God may indeed use all these agen* 
cies as powerful helps to produce the most glorious 
result of all — the exaltation of God in the person 
of His only-begotten Son; but he also may, without 
these agencies, accomplish the same work. 

Beloved, the glory of Christ is the only true, and 
permanent glory, and it can be won more certainly 
amid the daily struggles of the contrite and loving 
heart, than in the mightiest controversy that ever 
enlisted the intellect or the chivalry of nations. 

Brothers in Christ, bear testimony then in your 
Christian profession, and practices, to the presence 
of Jesus through the work of the Spirit of God. Your 
testimony to Him now, will be rewarded hereafter, 
through His merits, with everlasting life; for the 
words of our ascended Lord, who now reigns in 
glory, have been put on record — 

''To him that overcometh will I grant to sit 
with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and 
am set down with my Father in His throne." 



SERMON VII. 



DEATH AND LIFE. 

ST. MATTHEW IX. 23, 24. 

And when Jesus came into the ruler'' s house, and saw the minstrels 
and the people making a noise. He said tinto them, Give place: for the maid 
is not dead, but sleepeth. Atid they laughed Him to scorn.'''' 

What a strange scene do the verses of the text 
sketch for us ! The melancholy music and noisy de- 
monstrations of an oriental mourning suddenly inter- 
rupted, and instead thereof, expressions of contempt- 
uous merriment, far more hearty and real than the 
wailing ! And what is the cause of this sharp transi- 
tion The answer is found in the Avords which Jesus 
spake, as He stood beside the motionless corpse of 
the rulers daughter — "She is not dead, but sleepeth"; 
to instruct them and all mankind in the real character 
of the separation of soul and body, and in the deep 
meaning of the terms, death and life. 

We may assure ourselves that the words which our 
Master spake, and the record of which is contained in 
the text, were not uttered to surprise by their singu- 
larity, rather than to instruct by their deep mystery. 
There went forth from that chamber where the Jewish 
ruler wept for his daughter, a declaration full of warn- 



ii8 



Death and Life. 



ing and of comfort, which was to be echoed by those 
who should receive and teach the truth as it is in 
Jesus, to the end of the world. Our adorable Re- 
deemer has put words into our mouths which we are 
bound to repeat and to insist on, though we be 
laughed to scorn by some who hear us. In spite of 
the common mode of speaking, Christ's disciples have 
power by His example, to stand beside the corpse and 
say, ** She is not dead," and to insist upon it that how- 
ever we may adopt the popular mode of speaking, 
we must still encourage a more mysterious and fearful 
idea of death than the phenomenon that meets the 
eye; and when men urge us to declare how then we 
should think of that which we call death, we are 
permitted to affirm that it is but a sleep, from which 
there shall be an awakening, and uprising. 

Without intending, therefore, to occupy your at- 
tention with a mere criticism on words, with no desire 
to quarrel with our popular mode of speech, — which 
has its authority in sacred, as well as in uninspired lit- 
erature, — I do desire that we should receive into our 
heart of hearts the truths which flow from a study of 
Christ's words in the text. 

First, That death and life are terms which have a 
spiritual as well as physical meaning 

Secondly, That death, in the popular, which is the 
physical meaning, is best expressed by the term sleep. 

''And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and 



Death and Life. 



119 



saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, He 
said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead 
but sleepeth. And they laughed Him to scorn." 

The first truth that is conveyed to us by the declar- 
ation of Jesus, is that death and life are terms which 
have a spiritual, as well as physical meaning. And 
let me observe that if this be true, then we have no 
right to abridge the meaning of terms at once so mys- 
terious and so comprehensive. We have no right as 
scholars, as philosophers, as theologians. It may in- 
deed be as useless as impossible to attempt to change 
the custom of speech; we must go on and talk of 
death and life, in a popular way, for ordinary purposes, 
but we may not suffer our thoughts, and our con- 
sciences to be limited, and thereby deceived. It 
would be an affectation of precision to decline to 
speak of sunrise, or sunset, but it would be ignor- 
ance to assert that these terms express one particle of 
astronomical truth. If any one should say that it is 
impossible to make men connect any other ideas with 
death, and life, than those which flow from physical 
phenomena; and that they will laugh you to scorn if 
you tell them that a dead man is not dead in every 
sense of the word, and a live man not alive in every 
true sense: I answer that we constantly employ terms 
in a popular way which by no means exhausts their full 
and highest meaning; and farther, that it is the truth 
of God that death and life are moral as well as 



120 



Death and Life. 



physical facts, and that, therefore, a dead man phy- 
sically, is not always truly dead, and a live man phy- 
sically, is not always truly alive. 

Scorned or not, I take my stand beside the corpse, 
and say, " She is not dead, but sleepeth." We can 
likewise speak to those who, in the full vigor of 
animal life, are yet ignorant of spiritual truth and 
faith in Jesus, and say, though you may have a name 
to live, you are dead. 

All this is not verbal criticism, or a fantastic use 
of terms. Following as we do, the express words of 
Jesus, we may ask for a suspension of any such idea 
on the part of those who listen. Be careful, when 
brought in contact with the words of Him " Who 
spake as never man spake," that you slight not figura- 
tive, mysterious, spiritual declarations which contain 
eternal truth. And when we consult the infallible 
pages of the Bible for full information as to the 
meaning of life and death, we are met on the thresh- 
hold of the revelation of that volume, with the dis- 
closure of the mysterious fulness of the terms, and 
by consequence of the ideas and facts which they 
embody. 

The first occasion on which the ominous words — 
life and death — were used, ought to teach those who 
seek for truth, the mystery hidden in these terms. 
In the garden of Eden there was the tree of life, 
which could not be merely physical life, since Adam 



Death and Life. 



121 



was alive before, and after he had access to that 
tree. And there again was another tree, with which 
the sentence was coupled, ''The day thou eatest 
thereof, thou shalt surely dieT And of which Adam 
eat, and so died, though physically, on that day and 
for nine hundred and thirty years afterwards, he 
lived. 

Without passing, therefore, beyond the opening 
chapters of the Bible, we may gmn an insight into 
the fact that there is a spiritual, as well as natural 
life — a spiritual, as well as natural death — that these 
meanings must be included in the terms "life" and 
"death," whenever they are employed in the fulness 
of their signification. And when it comes to pass 
that not merely in a popular way we speak of the 
dead, and the living, but betrayed by the power of 
evil, we actually begin to limit the real meaning of 
the words to their popular acceptation, then it be- 
hooves us to act as our Master acted, and re-assert 
the truth in terms which may seem paradoxical, and 
even expose us to scorn. 

No one can have failed to notice how decidedly 
our Lord corrects the earthly, carnal, and limited 
ideas of the Jews in reference to the great mysteries 
of life and death. How often He used words which 
were beyond, aside from, and even against the com- 
mon mode of speaking; not, surely, for the sake of 
singularity, but in order that He might recall, and af- 



122 



Death and Life. 



firm the whole truth. He adopted the popular phrase- 
ology on most occasions, but there are times, as on 
that specified in the text, when He delivered the truth 
in terms flatly contradictory of those in popular use. 
When, for example, people were indulging in loud, 
and formal lamentation over the death of the ruler's 
daughter — as if she were literally lost forever — as if 
her death were death in the fullest sense — as if the 
separation of her soul and body were the saddest 
event which could befall her, or her family; — when 
our Master saw through, not only the obtrusive for- 
mality of this loud grief, but penetrated the false 
notion on which rested the deep grief of the parents, 
and those who sincerely lamented with them, He bade 
them know that their lamentations were out of place, 
for that she was not dead, but asleep. And when 
they who were wailing for her laughed Him to scorn; 
and when they too, who wept for real sorrow, were 
incredulous — He demonstrated the truth of His as- 
sertion, for "He took her by the hand, and the maid 
arose." 

On another occasion when He sought to bring be- 
fore His auditors at one glance the ethical and the 
popular ideas of the terms. He replied to the disciple 
who said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my fa- 
ther " — Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead." 
On another occasion still, when He instructed, as well 
as comforted, the sister of Lazarus, He announced the 



Death and Life. 



123 



mysterious truth by saying, He that believeth in 
Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and who- 
soever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." 

In words like these did the Incarnate Son of God 
instruct us in the mystery of life and death; and He 
taught us that however limited might be the popular 
terms in which these facts were expressed, such limits 
should be broken through by all who would acquaint 
themselves with the whole truth as revealed from 
God. 

And when, in our examination into our own minds 
by intercourse with the minds of others, we discover 
a forgetfulness of the spiritual meaning of life and 
death, and a tendency to an exclusive consideration 
of the physical application of the terms — when we find 
that the chief effort to preserve life, is concerned with 
what we shall eat, what we shall drink, and where- 
withal we shall be clothed — as if death in the pop- 
ular sense exhausted the fulness of the fact, as if this 
were the great, yea the greatest occasion for sorrow 
that could befall a household — we may, and we must, 
take up the words of Jesus, and say "Give place: for 
she is not dead, but sleepeth." 

We have now arrived at the proper stage of our 
subject to introduce the second topic which the text, 
carefully studied, presents; which is, that death, in its 
popular meaning, is far from exhausting the true sig- 
nification of the term, that it may be properly ex- 



124 



Death and Life. 



pressed by the word sleep." Our adorable Master, 
in using the term "sleep" expressly intended to set 
before us the true nature of the physical fact to which 
the term death is assigned. In declining to allow 
mere physical dissolution to usurp the exclusive use 
of the word death, Christ taught us, as I have aimed 
to show, what we ought to include in our contempla- 
tion of this momentous subject. In giving to the 
separation of soul and body, the title "sleep," as in 
the text He does, Christ has disclosed to us the great 
Gospel doctrine of the resurrection of the body, to- 
gether with a warning, and comfort, which must not 
pass without distinct notice. 

The exact phraseology of the Creed teaches us with 
authority the evangelical truth that we shall rise 
again; but the lesson can be also learned in the fact 
that the body of the Jewish maiden — when deprived 
of the soul — slept. They who sleep, awake again — 
if'the dead body be not dead, but asleep, — that is to 
say — if the term "sleep" be the most accurate one 
which He, the very Word of God Himself, in Whom 
dwelt all the fulness of wisdom and knowledge, and 
Who gave us the power of speech — if "sleep" be the 
chosen word of Jesus, whereby to describe the fact 
of physical death, then no dogmatic statement, no 
decree of council, could more clearly affirm the fact of 
the Resurrection of the Body. In that house of the 
Jewish ruler, whose daughter lay dead, was enacted 



Death and Life. 



125 



in advance, the sublime mystery of the last great day. 
For when the purposes of Almighty God shall have 
been consummated; when Satan and his angels shall 
seem to triumph in their success in having brought 
under the power of death the whole race of mankind, 
then shall go forth the words, they are not dead, but 
asleep: — and amid the scornful laugh of the hitherto 
victorious enemy of our race, the Son of God shall 
put forth His power, and fulfil His words to the 
uttermost in the resurrection of the dead — some 
to everlasting life — some to shame and everlasting 
contempt. 

But I have asked you to note in our Lord's use of 
the term ''sleep," not only a clear disclosure of the 
great doctrine of the faith, but a warning, which ought 
not to pass unheeded. There is no power in sleep to 
change one's moral character; as we lie down we rise 
up again when awake. The man who has closed his 
eyes after a day of violation of God's commandments, 
opens them again on the next day with his moral 
character unchanged. Sleep wipes not away the re- 
membrance of evil done against God, or the wrongs 
done to a fellow-man; it makes not the impure, pure; 
the intemperate, temperate; the dishonest, honest; the 
hard-hearted, charitable. But precisely in the moral 
condition in which we go to sleep we awake. Is there 
no warning here } Must I spend words in developing 
it, when it is plainly told us by Him, Who has used 



126 



Death and Life. 



the word with divine authority — that what we call 
death, is sleep ? Is there no warning to those who 
have talked and thought of death as if it were anni- 
hilation ?- — who have longed for death, though they be 
full of unrepented sins, as if it were the haven of rest ? 
— who have even thought of courting death before it 
seemed ready to approach them ? 

Be it known to all who sin without repentance, 
that death is sleep, and that as we die, we shall rise 
again. The wrong deed done yesterday rests still 
upon the soul to-day,- if unrepented, though you have 
slept upon it; and so, be warned, I pray you — so shall 
it be with those who shall pass on till death surprise 
them. There is no greater change possible in the 
moral character by death, than by sleep; for Christ 
hath instructed us that the lifeless body ''is not dead, 
but sleepeth." 

There is another phase of the warning that must 
be noticed. In sleep, though the body be motionless, 
the spirit is active. There are dreams that trouble, 
as well as those that please. Let no one then, in 
thinking of death as a sleep, forget that whilst the 
body is motionless in the dust of the earth, the soul 
lives in full and active consciousness. And if the life 
v\^e now lead be one of sin — death will not annihilate 
either soul or body — it will only place the slumber 
of the grave upon the body for a time, and give there- 
by as in sleep, the freer range for the conscious spirit 



Death and Life. 



127 



to act according to its laws. Again, I beseech you, 
take warning from the great truth disclosed by Christ 
in the words, "She is not dead, but sleepeth." 

But I hasten on to indicate the comfoj^t which, 
side by side with the warning, lies hidden in the 
mysterious, suggestive words of our Master. Is it 
no comfort to be told that the friend you thought to 
be dead, only sleeps ? Is it not a perfect protection 
against over-much sorrow, to those who will open 
their hearts wide enough to receive the great mystery 
set forth in our text ? There was a time when Chris- 
tians took great consolation from this very truth; 
when it made them ready to die, and resigned to see 
those near to them die at the call of God. 

Go look at the Catacombs of Rome, and see in the 
records which those faithful caverns have preserved of 
the creed and life of our Christian forefathers — how 
the early Christians thought of death. The inscrip- 
tions are full of faith. Here a mother, "sleeps in 
Jesus" — there a child, "sleeps in Jesus" — husband, 
wife, and friend — they all " sleep " — there is no sign 
of death in the Catacombs. And I would rather visit 
now, their grim and unadorned recesses, with the 
♦feelings suggested by the simple stones which tell 
how faithful Christians died, as well as lived, in the 
comfort of their faith; than go into our gay modern 
cemeteries, with their costly classic, not Christian, 
ornaments, telling of the unrest of broken-hearted 



128 



Death and Life. 



survivors, rather than of the peaceful sleep of the 
dead in Christ. 

Our martyred forefathers of the early Church may 
teach us how to live, to die, to bury, and to mourn 
for our dead. Our Master teaches us in the words, 
" She is not dead, but sleepeth," that we are not to 
sorrow for the sainted dead as those who have no 
hope. Let us sorrow, then, but with hope. Let us 
take to ourselves the consolation which the words of 
Jesus must have given to the parents of the Jewish 
maiden. The sleep is long — it is too deep for us to 
break — our loved one may not be awakened by the 
call of affection, or the cry of anguish; but still she 
only sleeps, she is not dead. This is the thought 
that I offer as full of consolation. 

Think of your dead — if that be the more familiar 
term, and death rather than sleep be the accustomed 
word — think of your dead whenever your heart prompts 
you; but. Christian man, or woman, mourning for a 
Christian departed this life, think likewise of their 
condition when — as St. Paul describes it — The Lord 
Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with 
the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of 
God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 

''Wherefore," adds the Apostle, ''wherefore com- 
foj't one another with these words." 



SERMON VIII. 



THE RELATION OF SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS 
DUTIES. 

ST. MATTHEW XXII. PART OF THE 2 1 ST VERSE. 

^'T.hen saith He wito them. Render therefore unto CcBsar, the things 
that are C(zsar''s; and unto God, the things that are God's.'^ 

It may be satisfactory to understand exactly the 
nature of the snare laid for our Master, in the question 
proposed to him concerning the payment of tribute. 
It is to be remembered that from the election of the 
Jewish people, there was a peculiar relation subsist- 
ing between them and their God, such as no other 
ever possessed, for it made God Himself their King. 
And even after the change of government, and the 
appointment of a human monarch in the person of 
Saul, the theocracy was in a measure continued, and 
no foreign power was allowed to bear rule over the 
chosen tribes. 

In the course of time, however, the flagrant sins of 
the Jewish nation led to those calamitous events, the 
notice of which forms so large a portion of the lat- 
ter part of Old Testament history. They were carried 
into captivity, their city was laid waste, their temple 



130 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



was burnt, and though under Cyrus the Persian they 
were allowed to reoccupy their homes, still they were 
subjected to invasions from the various ambitious 
tyrants who, from time to time, gained the supreme 
power in the neighboring provinces. Persian, Greek, 
and Roman, in turn had them in subjection. At the 
time of our Saviour's advent, the Jews were under 
the rule of the Caesars. The imperial armies having 
taken Jerusalem, and secured it by a very numerous 
garrison about sixty-three years previous to the in- 
cident related in the text. 

And yet even at this time there was a remnant of 
the old feeling which taught the Jew to look to God 
as his King; and the Pharisees were those who under 
the influence of this sentiment, regarded as traitors 
to their country and religion the Herodians, or any 
party, who favored the cause of the Roman emperors. 
But the desire to destroy our adorable Redeemer, led 
to a combination of these two parties, to put a ques- 
tion, which seemed impossible to be answered either 
way without involving his ruin. 

The question was, ''Is it lawful to give tribute unto 
Caesar or not } " Had Christ replied. It is not lawful, 
the Herodians stood ready to drag him before Pilate's 
judgment seat, as a traitor to the government of the 
Emperor. Had he answered. It is lawful, the Phari- 
sees stood ready to accuse Him to the Sanhedrim and 
the people, as a traitor to the law of Moses, and as 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



inculcating subjection to a Gentile yoke, and thus 
falsifying His claim to be the Messiah. 

There never was an occasion when, as you must 
perceive, the superhuman wisdom of our Master was 
more clearly required. 

The question seemed a fair one, the inquiry cer- 
tainly was on the face of it, most reasonable: and yet 
it needed but a word, a simple affirmation, or denial, 
to open the flood-gates of popular feeling. But mark 
with what divine penetration our Master detected 
their hypocrisy, and then makes their own words 
foil their cunning. He asks for the tribute coin, 
and demands from their own lips, whose image was 
stamped on it, as the sign of their acknowledged 
king } 

Did that coin bear the name of Jehovah, did it de- 
clare their acknowledged subjection to God alone } 
Nay, there was the image of the Roman emperor 
graven on the face of the money, thus proclaiming to 
the world, what in after days they affirmed with their 
own iniquitous tongues, ''We have no king but 
Caesar." 

The very tribute money, therefore, answered their 
question. It bore the image of Caesar, they therefore 
recognized him as their lawful king. The inculcation 
of obedience to the ruler of their own choice, was no 
more than common equity demanded. Render, 
therefore, unto Caesar (since by the use of a coin bear- 



132 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



ing his image, you acknowledge his authority) the 
things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that 
are God's." 

We have our duty to Caesar, and to God— that is 
to the world, and to the world to come. The rule 
of action is — Discharge faithfully both classes of duty, 
neglecting neither. Render unto Caesar the things 
that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are 
God's." 

The first branch of the principle, involved in our 
Saviour's declaration, is this: — The proper discharge 
of secular, and religious duties, is right. The classi- 
fication of duties under the terms secular and relig- 
ious, is sufficiently accurate for present purposes. 

To the first term are referred all duties more im- 
mediately concerned with this world, such as busi- 
ness, and the relative duties of man to his fellow- 
man. 

To the second term are referred those duties which 
directly concern God, such as the profession of His 
name, the obedience to His Gospel, the salvation of 
our souls. It is simply fanatical to deny the obliga- 
tions which our relation to the things of this life cre- 
ates; or to affirm that because the great end of life 
is to prepare for another state of existence, that 
therefore, inattention to the proprieties and callings 
of the present state is justifiable. We have our re- 
lations to Caesar, and to God; the man who impeaches 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



133 



the first is no more sinless, than the man who denies 
the last. 

Now it is well for the character of the Christian 
religion in this particular to be fully understood. The 
Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches no man to be an idle 
citizen of an earthly commonwealth; as it certainly 
will not allow him to be a half-way friend to the 
kingdom of heaven. The precepts of our faith teach 
us that the energetic discharge of the duties which 
government, society, or business can righteously de- 
mand, should be righteously discharged. 

It is a vain, and unscriptural notion, therefore, to 
imagine that because a man sets himself to the faithful 
discharge of his duties to God, by the profession of His 
faith, the observance of His precepts, and obedience to 
His Sacraments, that he must become less mindful of 
the obligations which bind him to his family, and his 
business, to society, and to his country. And it ap- 
pears to me that this branch of our subject chiefly 
concerns those who are not at all careful to discharge 
their religious duties, and would seem to imply that 
such care must necessarily interfere with a proper at- 
tention to those secular duties, to which they feel 
themselves imperatively and conscientiously called. 

It is here of importance to arrest the mind on the 
fact, that the Gospel of our blessed Master makes full 
provision for the proper discharge of all lawful secular 
duties. So that instead of presenting the faith of 



134 



Secular and Religious Duties, 



Christ as a shield to defend idleness in business, or in- 
attention to any of the just requirements of society, 
and the state, it makes the faith a buckler, on the 
thick bosses whereof, that man will run to his own 
injury, who ''Renders not unto Caesar the things that 
are Caesar's." Christianity is no more a friend to trea- 
son, than it is to infidelity; and the pure principles 
of our faith no more sanction disrespect to Caesar, 
than disrespect to God. 

In all departments of life, the influence of the Gos- 
pel is on the side of energy, honesty, and stern in- 
tegrity. If you look to civil relations, the principle 
of the text inculcates loyalty and patriotism. As Dr. 
Paley says, ''While Christianity declines every ques- 
tion relating to particular forms of government, it is 
alike friendly to them all, by tending to make men 
virtuous, and therefore easier to be governed; by stat- 
ing obedience to government, in ordinary cases, to be 
not merely a submission to force, but a duty of con- 
science; and by inducing dispositions favorable to pub- 
lic tranquility." 

If you turn now, from this class of secular duties to 
that which relates to the occupations of life, in the 
prosecution of which the support of one's family, and 
the employment of one's energies are concerned — here 
again, Christianity makes due provision, and fully 
guards against anything approximating to idleness 
or dishonesty. It is not the man who renders unto 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



135 



God His due, that is forgetful of the claims of business; 
it is not the Christian, that makes the worst profes- 
sional man. 

Was it not Christ Himself Who lent His own 
hands to His reputed father's trade ? Was it not 
the Apostle to the Gentiles who wrought as a tent- 
maker ? Was it not St. Luke, whose name sta-nds 
coupled with the title of the Beloved Physician 1 
Who was it that so nobly defended the persecuted 
Apostles, with learning, and argument irresistible 
The record has the name " Gamaliel, a doctor of the 
law, had in reputation among all the people." Who 
more brave than that noble Christian, Cornelius, the 
Roman soldier } 

But it is needless to go into details on this branch 
of our remarks, history speaks the s^me to all; to 
her faithful pages I appeal, and you shall 'find that 
among the names which stand highest for energy, 
industry, and integrity, in all lawful secular pursuits, 
are the names of Christians. It is not only in eccle- 
siastical engagements that this honorable testimony 
to the influence of religion is found; but in all pur- 
suits, and callings the testimony is the same. The 
first men at the council board, and in the field, in 
the halls of justice, and ministering at the sick-bed, 
in the counting-room, and in the workshop; the 
most thorough philosophers, whether in nature or 
mind; the men who have left their names written 



136 Secular and Religious Duties. 

in the firmament, on the mind of man, and in the 
constitution of this world's government — have been 
Christians — men who having understood that there 
was no inconsistency between the proper discharge 
of secular and religious pursuits, have obeyed the 
spirit of Christ's declaration, and have rendered unto 
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the 
things that are God's. 

There seems to be little danger, however, that 
religious duties will interfere with secular pursuits: it 
is not the tendency of our nature, neither is it the 
tendency of the arrangements of society. I think, 
therefore, there need be but little said, as to not al- 
lowing religion to produce inattention to business, 
or to the relations of life. The tendency of every- 
thing at the present day, and the practice of the 
age, are directly the other way. 

On this matter, as on all others, the goodness of 
God has been fearfully abused. The permission to 
use the world has been abused: the charge to render 
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, has been 
perverted, by the devotion of the whole soul, time, 
energies, and mind, to the withholding from God 
the things that are God's. What think you are the 
things of God } what think you is our duty to Him } 
what the sphere of His rights which ought not to be 
infringed } When He gave us this world to live in, 
adorned it with its glorious firmament, clothed the 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



137 



earth with beauty, and instituted the relations of 
life, think you that He ever designed that the coun- 
terpart of Himself, the being into whose nostrils 
He had breathed the breath of life, should make 
this beautiful but fleeting scene the centre of his 
love ? 

Come now and let us reason together; here are 
men caring nothing practically for God, or the things 
that belong to Him, who yet spends the labor of their 
bodies, and the strength of their intellects, upon the 
various callings which this world presents. Now, 
tell me, do you think that God made the laws of 
nature, sent forth the sun to travel in his glory, and 
robed the nightly heavens with their glittering host, 
to make any man spend his whole life, all his energies, 
in the investigations of their philosophy, or in the 
discoveries of science ? Think you that God planted 
the families of men within their several boundaries, 
and established laws for the regulation of society, 
in order that any of His creatures should make the 
study of those laws, or their application to the peace 
of society, the sole end of living; and thus to withdraw 
the noblest powers of the human mind from Himself 
to these creations of His hand ? Think you, that He 
gave to the mineral its healing property, or to the 
flower of the field its secret principle of life, merely 
that another class of His creatures should give their 
mightiest energies to the detection of their medical 



138 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



properties, and the application of them to man's 
bodily health ? 

Think you that the providence of God has pre- 
served to us that noble catalogue of historians, poets, 
and orators which opens before the classical student 
such a glorious field for research, only that he should 
make these records his idols, and in the imitation of 
the human models, forget his God ? 

Think you that God bade the ocean roll, in order 
that His creatures should find their sole delight in 
traversing it for gain ? Think you that He planted 
the trees of the forest that man should give his whole 
soul to the hewing of the wood, or to the skilful 
adaptation of it to the wants of men ? 

What a perversion of the world, in all its depart- 
ments, has been made by those who are ready to take 
advantage of the various arrangements and relations 
which have been permitted to exist, without rendering 
unto the God Who created them, the things that are 
His ! What a sin is this, which we see daily and 
fearlessly committed, of allowing the secular duties 
of life to interfere even to the entire neglect of the 
duties we owe to our souls and to our God. This 
is no more generous than it is just. That when there 
has been given to a man all that is necessary for his 
own enjoyment, for the exercise of his mind, for the 
employment of his time, and for the comfort of those 
he loves, that such a one should rob that God, Whose 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



139 



mercy has thus blessed him, of the honor due to His 
name. 

You see then, brethren, there is a most important 
truth in this second branch of the principle which 
our Master's reply inculcates. For if it be right, if 
it be perfectly consistent, to discharge our duties to 
the world, as well as those to God, it is wrong to 
allow any undue interference — it is destructive to the 
soul, to suffer — as is at this day ^ so often done — 
the duties to God to be entirely interfered wdth, and 
absorbed in the duties which are paid to this world. 
If the man who can forget his duty to Caesar in his 
duty to God, be a weak man, the one who can forget 
God, in his duty to Caesar is a wicked one. If the 
man who neglects his proper secular relations for his 
religion, be open to censure in this life, the man who 
neglects religion for his business, will receive punish- 
ment in the world to come. This is truth, brethren, 
and it concerns us to know it. 

The claims of religion, the faith of Christ, the 
commandments of God, are not occupying, doubtless, 
in the minds of many, the position which they must 
occupy for the salvation of the soul. It will not do 
to put off this duty to God, on the plea that your 
worldly pursuits, your habits, your tastes, your actual 
wants demand all your time. For the Being Who 
gives you the power of mind to think one thought, 
and Who gifts you with health of body to move one 



Secular and Religious Duties. 



muscle — that Being has uttered the declaration, 
''Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, 
and unto God the things that are God's." 

You cannot with impunity interrupt that harmony 
which has been thus established between Himself, and 
the pursuits of life. You might as well attempt to 
disturb the laws of nature with impunity. And if 
there be any hesitation as to the limits of these 
duties, let the error be on the side of taking from 
Csesar, not intrenching on the rights of God. 

No man is rendering unto God the things that are 
God's who is not openly confessing the faith of Christ: 
devoting the chief energies of his soul and body, the 
best of his time and talents, to the glory of God, his 
own salvation, and that of his fellow-men. God's 
claims must be first: with His service there must be 
no interference. If the claims of business, or pleas- 
ure, or society — if the demands of our professions, or 
the wants of our families, interfere, they must give way 
to God; at once, and without reserve. Ay, though 
thus to act, we cut off our right hand, or pluck out 
our right eye. It matters not, that thus to place God 
and the things that are His, in their due position may 
be attended with pain, and self-denial, and opposition. 

It is passing strange, that those v/ho know what is 
right, and that it is God who calls them to its dis- 
charge, should hesitate, as to the possible effect of 
such action. When the wrath of man can overthrow 



Seadar and Religious Duties. 141 

the omnipotence of God, then we may be afraid of 
doing right. When Caesar's sceptre can overawe the 
sceptre of Caesar's God, then, and not before, may you 
be afraid to take from the world that which it unright- 
eously claims, and render the full measure of your 
heart's and life's devotion to your Redeemer. Let the 
best of your time, your treasures, your energies and 
influence be rendered unto Him Who gave them all 
to you, and by Whose permission alone you can use 
them, and then render unto Caesar the things that 
are Caesar's. Do this, and no matter what may be the 
result, you have through Christ's merits saved your 
soul. And when that is safe, all is well. For the 
earth may be rent, as it will, the heavens may flame 
with fire, the very elements may melt with fervent 
heat, the crown and sceptre of Caesar and his fellow 
monarchs be flung aside as worthless, yet all is well, 
for as you have rendered unto God the things that are 
God's, then shall be rendered unto you, in the hour 
when you most need it, that protection which it is in 
the power of Him alone to give. Whose name is "King 
of kings, and Lord of lords." 



SERMON IX. 



ACTION, NOT ARGUMENT, THE GOSPEL FLAX OF 
SOLVING THE PERPLEXITIES OF IXQUIRERS. 

ST. JOHN YI. 8, g, 10. 

" Otze of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter'' s brother, saith iinto Him, 
There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two sjnall fishes: but 
what are they among so many ? Ajid yesus said, Make the men sit down,''' 

That was indeed a notable exertion of miracu- 
lous power, Avliich could multiply five barley loaves, 
and two small fishes, so as to satisfy the hunger of 
five thousand men, and leave fragments sufficient to 
fill twelve baskets. But I confess to you, that in re- 
flecting on this event, the mind seems arrested not so 
much by the record, which describes the miraculous 
fact, as by that which relates the conversation between 
our Master and His disciples preparatory to the mira- 
cle. And that, in that conversation, it is not so much 
the astonishment of the Apostles which attracts one's 
attention, as the manner in which our Lord makes 
His answer. " One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon 
Peter's brother, saith unto Him, There is a lad here, 
which hath five barley loaves, and tAvo small fishes: 
but what are they among so many ? " Now, stay 
your thoughts a moment here, and note Jwd) this 



TJie Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 143 

expression of the disciple's perplexity is answered by 
the Master. The question of the Apostle was cer- 
tainly very natural: before them were assembled a 
vast multitude, five thousand in number, while to 
feed them, there were only five barley loaves and 
two small fishes. But does our Lord argue this point t 
Does He give an explanation of the mode by which 
He will make them subserve His purpose } Does He 
vouchsafe any answer at all to the precise point of 
His disciple's difficulty.? You can judge for yourself: 
And Jesus said, Make the men sit down." 
We derive from this narrative the proposition — 
that action, rather than argument, is the Gospel plan 
for solving the perplexities of the intelligent and earnest 
inquirer after the truth, and that even allowable ques- 
tions, involving mysterious, or unrevealed elements, 
are better solved while striving to enter in at the 
strait gate than in only applying the logical under- 
standing to their elucidation. 

The first matter for consideration, is the fact that 
there are perplexities in connection with the Christian 
religion, presenting themselves to the serious-minded 
inquirer. By a certain mode of presenting the mys- 
teries of religion, an honest listener may be induced 
to believe that all notion of mystery is due to a cer- 
tain theological system; that the Bible is so plain 
that ''the wayfaring man, though a fool," can under- 
stand its every verse, from Genesis to Revelation; 



144 ^/^^ Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 

that its doctrines may be fathomed by the simplest 
understanding; and that its Sacraments are nothing 
more than the plain institutions of a well-ordered 
society. And while under the influence of such a 
belief, the inquirer, upon examination, discovers, to 
his dismay, that the Bible contains a multitude of 
passages needing elucidation; that its doctrines, such 
as those of the Eternity, and Omnipresence of God, 
the Incarnation of Christ, and the Trinity, are infin- 
itely beyond his comprehension; and that the Sacra- 
ments are not simply venerable ceremonies, but di- 
vinely-appointed instruments for conveying to the 
soul the most exalted spiritual blessings. I believe 
that in this matter of religion, we promote its best in- 
terests, and act most in accordance with its Founder's 
spirit, when we present its every truth with perfect 
honesty, and without exaggeration, or extenuation. 
As to the success of the Gospel, that rests with God. 
And if there be difficulties in connection with re- 
ligion, which naturally present themselves to the mind, 
admit the fact. 

For example, it is a trying question to some 
minds, why God, the Holy and Good, should have 
permitted the introduction of sin into our world: to 
another the perpetuation of a sinful nature in the pos- 
terity of Adam, and the possession of a fallen spirit 
even before actual sin, is a perplexity. To a third, 
the inquiry connected with the mode by which God 



The Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 145 

the Holy Ghost dwells in us, and makes us, as St. 
Paul says, ''The temple of God"; or the mode by 
which redemption has been effected, is attended with 
perplexities; and the mode in which faith connects 
us with the atonement, and through it, with Heaven, 
is a subject for thoughtful consideration. Whilst 
again, others are perplexed with the contemplation 
of the existence of any obscurity in the Bible, and of 
any mysteries in the doctrines, and ordinances of the 
Gospel — seeing that such obscurity occasions divi- 
sions among Christians, and such mystery has led 
to superstition. 

Others again, with every disposition to do the 
righ*t, and contemplating the practical, rather than 
the abstract, departments of their faith, are perplexed 
as to the necessity and the real value of Baptism, of 
Confirmation, and of the Lord's Supper. 

They are serious in their desires for God's favor, 
but cannot perceive the connection between the use 
of outward means, and the reception of a blessing 
which is spiritual and from above. There are those, 
who, with perfect sincerity of heart desire to be the 
servants of Christ, but yet refrain from the adoption 
of the means of grace provided, and from the confes- 
sion of Christ before the world, in the sacramental 
way of His appointment, saying. How can my condi- 
tion be either better or worse for my being baptized, 
or not baptized 1 Can such a matter as this have any 



146 The Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 

connection with the great spiritual work of reform- 
ing a wicked heart, or purifying a depraved nature ? 
Again, How can the reception of the Lord's Supper 
bear upon my eternal interests ? Is it possible that 
God Who is a Spirit, and Who bids us worship Him 
in spirit, and in truth, has any care for my reception 
of consecrated elements from His priest's hands? Can 
I not be a Christian without the renewal of my bap- 
tismal vow, in Confirmation ? And will the merciful 
God account the open profession of His name a mat- 
ter of moment when He comes to judge the quick 
and dead ? 

Such difficulties are natural at the beginning of 
religious thoughtfulness. It is not the bare facf of 
their existence, which need disturb you; but the en- 
tertaining of them beyond the point at which instruc- 
tion in the Gospel system should remove them. It 
is natural, at first thought, to feel many of these per- 
plexities : but it is sinful to perpetuate them, when 
the solution of them is offered. The Gospel mode 
of solving them is action, rather than argument. 
The Apostle asks, ''What are these among so many.?" 
Jesus answers, " Make the men sit down." Action 
not argiLinent then, is the Gospel plan for solving 
the perplexities of the inquirer after religion. 

I do not mean to affirm that the religion of Christ 
is unfriendly to the legitimate exercise of the reason- 
ing faculties, or that the faith of Christ demands a 



The Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 147 

blind assent to its principles. I am speaking of per- 
plexities^ and the perplexities of an earnest, practical, 
inquiring soul. To the infidel, to the deist, to the 
doubter of the authenticity of the Bible, to the Chris- 
tian controversialist we offer argument, and we ask 
no admission that is not founded on sufficient author- 
ity. But we seek the attention now of thoughtful, 
earnest, people, who believe the book of God, who 
honor its institutions; and who, often elevate their 
hearts in silent prayer for guidance, but who, in the 
matter of an open profession of Christ and Him cru- 
cified, are perplexed, and thereby restrained. To this 
class I address myself, and ask no blind submission, 
no unreasonable action. I ask, indeed, for actio7i in- 
stead of argument ; because I hope to show that in 
these cases, argument is out of place, and unreason- 
able. I will not attempt to solve these perplexities 
by abstract theories on the nature of the Sacraments, 
but will urge them at once to find a solution of their 
doubts by receiving those mysteries with an humble 
and penitent heart, because such a course is the most 
consistent with the dictates of sound reason. To 
him who is perplexed in his thoughts on the nature, 
the necessity, and the benefits of an open profession 
of Christ, in the Sacraments and ordinances of the 
Gospel, / say — do not argue^ bnt act. 

You say you have spent month after month, and 
year after year, in trying to discover the necessity 



148 TJie Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 

of any outward profession of faith : and you cannot 
see of what use it can be to you, provided the heart 
be right. I meet you here on this general point, and 
say: Give up arguing the matter in your mind; adopt 
the principle of your Lord — act, with a heart confess- 
ing its unworthiness, and depending on the merits 
of the Son of God, obey the injunction of our Lord, 
and, by the truth of the Holy Book, you shall have 
the demonstration you desire. For years you have 
sought the solution of your perplexity, by argument; 
adopt the better course, and solve in a day, what has 
cost you years of upbraidings of conscience, and of 
sinful delay. 

You say that the subject of Holy Baptism has often 
been a matter of consideration, and discussion, and 
that you have argued the matter, and though the 
words of God's Book seem plain, and positive, as to 
its necessity, and the declarations of God's Church 
seem full of comfort as to its benefits, yet you can- 
not decide the point. You say that you cannot com- 
prehend how, if you have the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost (meaning good desires and emotions), you can 
be benefited by water, in the Name of the Trinity, 
poured upon you by the minister of God. 

I comprehend, and appreciate your perplexity; I 
am willing to place myself with you, and to confess, 
that as a matter of pure reason, I cannot see what 
Baptism has to do with the soul, with God, and with 



The Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 149 

our eternal state: and, if you can put this Book of 
God out of the question, there are arguments against 
connecting our spiritual state with any such external 
performance. But if the Word of God is to be our 
rule of faith, then I read there, ''Except a man be 
born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the 
kingdom of God," and though the solution of the per- 
plexity cannot be found in abstract reasoning, it can 
(as every true Christian knows), be found in actio7i. I 
pray you, take the better course, obey — and if you be an 
honest, and earnest man, your doubts may be removed. 
The mode I point you to, is — action. Be baptized. 

And so, too, in respect to Confirmation: you may 
have argued the subject of the authority and necessity 
of the rite; and have aimed to satisfy yourself of the 
nature of the blessing conveyed, or whether there be 
such a gift connected with it, as the gift of the Holy 
Ghost — here again I commend the adoption of the 
same principle. If you have a heart in earnest for 
its salvation, if you would not willingly decline a 
means of grace, then stop not to argue; but by 
prayer, and humility of soul, prepare yourself for, and 
receive, the holy rite of Confirmation, and, by the 
reception, know the blessing. 

Again there are those, who have given their minds 
to the contemplation of the nature, and obligation 
of the Lord's Supper, but who have not yet decided 
upon their duty in respect to its reception. They 



150 The Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 

have argued the nature of external ordinances in this 
case as in that of Baptism. They have not been^able 
to decide what the eating of bread, and the drinking 
of wine, consecrated by the Priest of God, can have 
to do with their union with Christ; and yet they have 
heard the words of the Book of God, "The cup of 
blessing which we bless, is it not the communion 
of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, 
is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? " And 
so, between the cogitations of their own hearts, and 
the plain words of God, they have been perplexed, 
and in later times more than ever, by the din of con- 
troversy. Year after year of argument has failed to 
solve the question. How can such simple elements 
as consecrated bread and wine be of eternal interest 
to the penitent and faithful recipient } What has 
bread to do with faith What has wine' to do with 
repentance } These are questions which I do not 
presume to argue — I cannot answer them by argu- 
ment, and I do not think that any one can so answer 
them. And were it not that the command of Jesus 
Christ, my God, and your God, rests on my soul — 
were it not that the words of Him who spake as 
never man spake, sound in my ears, " Do this in re- 
membrance of Me " — were it not that bread and wine 
were the chosen Sacraments of Him who shed His 
blood upon the cross for our redemption — I would 
join with you, my brother, in your perplexity, and 



The Gospel Plan of Solvmg Perplexities. 151 

perhaps in rejecting such a seeming perversion of 
spiritual religion. When then you ask, What are 
these, bread and wine, to present to a hungry soul, 
and to a heart thirsting for the waters of life ? — I pray 
you do not seek your satisfaction in any argumenta- 
tive answer. Do not argue, but act, and you shall 
receive the solution of your perplexity. 

In Jesus' name I speak to you, my brother, who 
with honest and sincere heart, do yet refuse to come 
to His table; and I say. Know the' blessing of this Sac- 
rament by humbly receiving it, and understand what 
consecrated bread and wine are to the faithful soul, 
by the reception of the spiritual blessing of the Body 
and Blood of Christ. 

Though we have especially addressed those who 
are inquiring after truth, the principle extends to all; 
let each Christian then, let each one without excep- 
tion, feel his concern in the subject. The faith of 
Jesus Christ is itself active; it cannot but x^q^vcq^' action 
on the part of those who embrace it. And while for 
certain purposes, or for certain men, pure argument 
is the mode of extending and protecting the truth; 
for the earnest inquirer, and for the humble-hearted 
disciple, whose chief desire is to glorify Christ in the 
unobtrusive duties of a practical profession, there is 
no weapon like action for clearing their own minds of 
indecision, or for the defence of themselves against 
adversaries. 



152 The Gospel Plan of Solving Perplexities. 

Give yourselves, beloved, to the adoption of the 
better principle which has been set before you, and 
it cannot be — no matter Avhat the particular perplex- 
ity of your mind, or the trials of your faith — that you 
remain without the blessing, and the knowledge of 
God. For He, who is the Word of God, hath so de- 
clared, If any man will do My will, he shall know of 
the doctrine, whether it be of God." And when here- 
after you are perplexed by either the suggestions of 
your own mind, or by the criticisms of those who 
question, and oppose your plan of solving your con- 
scientious scruples, recall the incident of this Sunday's 
Gospel. See the vast multitude, the perplexity of 
the disciples: hear the natural exclamation of the 
Apostle as he points to the five loaves, and then to 
the five thousand hungry men, ''What are these 
among so many } " And then hear, to your personal 
comfort, the majestic, unreasoning command of Jesus 
— -''Make the men sit down." 



SERMON X. 



THE POWER OF EVIL AND THE PO\YER OF THE 
HUMAN WILL — A MYSTERY OF THE 
KINGDOM OF GOD. 

ST. LUKE Vm. 10. 

'■^The mysteries of the kingdom of God.^^ 

There ai-e mysteries then in the kingdom of God 
— the great King Himself being our authority. Let 
us proceed in the first place to notice briefly the sub- 
ject of the mysteries of the kingdom of God in gen- 
eral, and secondly, to consider carefully the special 
mystery, to which the text more immediately refers 
us, and which the parable of the sower propounds and 
illustrates. 

The scriptural phrases "kingdom of God," and 
"kingdom of heaven," as used in the evangelical his- 
tories, are the equivalents of the more popular phrases 
"Christian dispensation" and "Church of Christ." 
This kingdom, dispensation, or church, is presented 
sometimes in a militant, sometimes in its triumphant 
condition; sometimes in the individuals that compose 
it, sometimes in its corporate character; sometimes in 
its subjective relations, as for example "The kingdom 
of God is within you," sometimes in its objective re- 



154 Mystery of the Kingdom of God. 



lations, as perhaps in the Lord's prayer — ''Thy king- 
dom come." 

In that wonderful thirteenth chapter of St. Mat- 
thew — that chapter of the kingdom — one parable dis- 
closes the mystery of the co-existence of evil with 
good in the kingdom. Another parable sets forth the 
mysterious law of development, so that as with a 
grain of mustard seed, the majestic future of the Chris- 
tian Church lies hidden in the seminal powers of the 
kingdom; whilst a third parable discloses the pre- 
destined mystery, whereby, as the silent diffusive 
leaven in the meal, the Gospel system shall, in its 
own quiet way, leaven the moral, social, and even 
civil life of the race with the new forces of a super- 
natural vitality. But in whatever aspect the king- 
dom is presented — w^hether in its present or future 
condition, in its principles or its results, in its per- 
sonal or Catholic character — we encounter " The 
mysteries of the kingdom of God." So far from hid- 
ing the fact, our Adorable Master brings it out prom- 
inently as in the text, and His inspired Apostle, St. 
Paul, in his letters to the Churches, speaks of "the 
mystery of the Gospel;" he describes the Christian 
ministry as "Stewards of the mysteries of God," and 
in the fervor of his inspired admiration he exclaims, 
" Great is the mystery of godliness." Whilst St. John 
the theologian, in his apocalyptic language, directs us 
to the time when, as he sa)-s, "The mystery of God 



Mysteiy of the Kingdom of God. 



155 



should be finished." It has not been left, then, for the 
keen scrutiny of a sceptical criticism to detect .mys- 
teries in the kingdom of God. The Christian scholar 
following the lead of his blaster and the inspired 
Apostles, has been foremost in affirming, developing, 
classifying, glorying in these mysteries. 

Where the infidel student has thought himself suc- 
cessful in discovering in that kingdom some stupen- 
dous fact or doctrine incomprehensible to his mere 
logical reason, and by virtue of his discovery has 
claimed authority for unbelief, the well-instructed stu- 
dent has pointed out a hundred facts still more in- 
comprehensible, and by virtue of that infallible dem- 
onstration that the kingdom was indeed of God has 
claimed the highest authority for faith. What ! no 
mysteries in the kingdom of God, when the kingdom 
of nature is full of thefn } Xo mysteries in God, when 
man is full of them ? Xo mysteries in the functions 
of spirit, when the functions of intellect and body 
are full of them } Xo mystery of godliness, when 
there is a mystery of iniquity ^ That were no king- 
dom of God, whose monarch, laws, and administra- 
tion could be fully comprehended by the wit of man. 

God manifest in the flesh is our King, and He 
saves those who believe, not those who comprehend 
Him. His laws are the Bible, and that Holy Book 
in all parts of its mysterious revelations, blesses the 
meek hearted, whilst it baffles the proud in spirit. 



156 Mystery of the Kingdom of God. 

The administration of that kingdom deals with 
the mysterious operations of God's Spirit, and the 
Evil Spirit, in their work on the fallen spirit of man, 
and is therefore concerned with the sanctification 
rather than the education of man. In making these 
remarks I do not intend, however, that you or I 
should accept as mysteries of the kingdom of God, 
the phantasies of theologians. Men may think they 
see mysteries in the kingdom when the real source 
of obscurity lies in their own brains. And we wit- 
ness at this day one who shares in the highest office 
in the kingdom of God on earth, rejecting the his- 
toric verity of the Books of Moses for alleged viola- 
tions of rational credibility, when the sole cause of 
the difficulty lies in his own limited and imperfect 
scholarship * It is a great mistake, also, to associate 
the mysteries of the kingdon* of God with barren 
speculation. When duly considered they bring us 
very close to God, and tend to humble and comfort 
us. Unlike what are called the mysteries of science, 
which may tend to foster intellectual pride; unlike 
the inexplicable enigmas of magic, which at best can 
only excite wonder; unlike the marvels of supersti- 
tion, ancient or modern, which breed infidelity; the 
mysteries of God's kingdom appeal to, and affect 
chiefly, the heart, and excite awe, rather than won- 
der. Their mysteriousness consists not in ambiguity, 
* Colenso. 



Mystery of the Kingdom of God, 157 

or mysticism, but in the fact that they are tokens of 
the more immediate presence, and working of God; 
they therefore excite and require faith. 

The most practical department of evangelical reve- 
lation is that which includes mysteries: the basis of the 
Christian life is laid in the Christian mysteries; most 
transcendent faith lives and has its being in the mys- 
tery of all mysteries — the Incarnation and Atone- 
ment of the Everlasting Son of the Father. 

When our Divine Master sought to educate dis- 
ciples, who should outstrip the punctilious Pharisees 
in the number and variety of works of righteousness, 
He did not enlarge the mere schedule of good works; 
He did not say let my disciples fast three times in 
the week and thereby exceed the Pharisee who fasts 
twice; He did not say to the Christian give the fifth 
of your possessions and thus exceed the Jew who 
boasts of his tenth distributed in alms; but He in- 
structed those who were willing to be His followers, 
in that mystery of LOVE, whereof He Himself was 
the exponent, and source; — and, by filling their 
souls with that mystery. He gave power to the hum- 
blest Christian disciple to out-distance infinitely, in 
acts of righteousness, the strictest sect of Pharisees. 

If, therefore, you would be full of good works, 
think not so much of your works, as of the love of 
God. If you would be liberal to the poor, think not 
about money, but about Christ who became Man for 



158 



Mystery of the Kingdom of God, 



love of us. If you would be frequent and devout in 
your attendance in God's house, think upon the mys- 
tery of the Divine Presence in the assemblies of the 
faithful. If you vish to be wholly given up to Christ, 
body, soul and spirit, let your heart be filled with that 
cynosure of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, 
"Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!" 

Now let us look at this general assertion of the 
text, in its specific relation to the parable in connection 
with which it occurs. What mystery of the kingdom 
of God is revealed in the parable of the sower sow- 
ing his seed, and some falling by the wayside, some 
upon a rock, some among thorns, and some on good 
ground } Does any one say there is no more mystery 
in the fact that the Word of God produces no effect, or 
very imperfect effect, or fulfils its intended purpose, 
accordingly as the heart of a man is prepared or un- 
prepared by his own personal efforts to receive it, than 
there is mystery in the fact that the seed is dependent 
on the soil and culture ? True, but are you sure that 
there is no mystery at all in the agricultural fact 
alluded to 1 Why should the thorns get the better of 
the seed, and not the seed bear fruit in spite of the 
thorns } There is life against life, why should the 
good yield to the bad, and not the bad to the good? 
Why should the intention of the sower and the vital 
power inherent in the seed be defeated by any circum- 
stances, such as a beaten path, or a thin soil ? Why 



Mystery of the Kingdom of God. 159 

are not these circumstances themselves defeated, and 
the will of the husbandman and the fruit of the seed 
alike secured ? Does Nature seem to teach that the 
evil is stronger than the good ? And is there no mys- 
tery in that? But let us turn to spiritual matters. 
Have you never felt in contemplating the effect of the 
Gospel on the salvation of the soul, that it was a mys- 
terious fact that circumstances seemed to control the 
living power of the Divine Word ? Have you never 
been moved to thought, to perplexing thought, as you 
saw the intention of the living God to save, defeated 
by the determination of the sinner to the contrary? 
Have you never been troubled for yourself, or those 
near you, when you saw the kingdom of God, with its 
Divine Original, and powers. Divine Head, Divine 
Bible, Sacraments, and Ministry, defeated by the in- 
fluence of Satan's suggestion, by the power of tempta- 
tion, or the cares, and riches, and pleasures of this 
life ? Have you never encountered the mystery that 
under the Gospel dispensation, with its revelations of 
infinite charity, the will of God for the salvation of 
the redeemed race is capable of being defeated by the 
will of man ? — that the Word which is Christ, whether 
it be Christ as seen in the written page, or as heard 
from the preacher's lips, or as contemplated in the ful- 
ness of His personal existence — that the Logos, or 
Word of God, omnipotent, and infinite in love — may 
be controlled in its intended effect in the soul of 



i6o Mysteiy of the Kingdom of God. 

man by the circumstances of this life voluntarily 
yielded to? 

If there be any who have thought upon the moral 
fact that the good seed of the Gospel is so often sown 
in vain, and that God's will seems to be controlled by 
man's will, in the matter of salvation — the Infinite and 
the Almighty, to be thwarted by the finite, and the 
feeble — I should like to have the attention of such to 
the legitimate conclusion to which our mutual admis- 
sion of the fact must lead. 

It is no little comfort to know that what perplexes 
us — what the unbeliever dwells on, as fatal to the 
divine authority of our Gospel — was plainly and pub- 
licly affirmed at the very outset of the establishment 
of His kingdom, by our Divine Master Himself, the 
Author of the Gospel, the King of the kingdom. The 
existence of evil — its power, even within the precincts 
of the kingdom of God, are mysteries, but they have 
been duly and plainly so declared by Christ in the 
parable of the sower. These mysteries, which reach 
not only man, but God, and the evil one, have been 
made the occasion not for inviting speculation on the 
origin of evil, but for the one practical object of 
affirming the necessity of exerting our personal will, 
and taking a real, unimaginative share in working out 
our salvation, even whilst, yea because it is God who 
worketh in us, both to will and to do His good pleas- 
ure. As the fact, perplexing or not, in agriculture is 



Mystery of the Kingdom of God. i6i 



that the husbandman 7mist himself work or the good 
seed will fail through the mystery of iniquity, which 
has cursed the kingdom of nature; and as the only 
philosophical view to be taken of the fact, perplexing 
or not, in the kingdom of God, is that evil will get the 
better of good, and the soul of man be lost, unless his 
own will be vigorously enlisted in the struggle; so the 
only philosophical way to consider that fact, is to go 
at once to work, and to feel that speculation, and at- 
tempts to penetrate the mystery, to deny, or evade it, 
or fretful murmurings against it, are not only irra- 
tional, and a loss of time, but are essentially infidel, 
and a loss of the soul. 

There is a tendency in this day, to treat the mys- 
teries of matter and spirit as if they were the defects 
rather than the glories of science; as if they were to 
be either explained, or explained away, as if they had 
not their ordained value, not only as practical facts, 
by which we must rule and guide our life, but as ethi- 
cal facts, by which the religious elements of faith and 
worship as essential to the man of science, as to the 
theologian, are to be cultivated. Take out the mys- 
terious or miraculous element from Nature and Reve- 
lation, and there will not be enough material left to 
excite the ambition of the loftiest order of mind. It 
is that element which has most contributed to the 
formation of such grand characters as St. Chrysostom, 
and Sir Isaac Newton, as remarkable in the grandeur 



1 62 Mystery of the Kingdom of God, 

of the child-like, practical way in which, allowing for 
these mysteries, they governed themselves accord- 
ingly, in their way of life. If we are not required to 
explain, but only to receive, and allow for, the mys- 
tery, then let all who are in earnest in their thought 
about the glory of God in the sanctification and sal- 
vation of their souls, give themselves heartily to the 
practical work of avoiding all circumstances which 
tend to strengthen the evil power of the human will; 
and cultivate every instrumentality which may serve 
to subdue it, and bring it into conformity to God's 
will. 

We can almost penetrate the mystery of the power 
of evil over good unless human volition be enlisted to 
resist, since from the struggle there arises a godly dis- 
cipline, which develops and strengthens the spiritual 
powers of man, and matures a being fitted to enjoy 
those celestial mansions which were purchased and 
prepared for him by the merit of the atoning Victim of 
the cross. Again then I press home the conclusion 
of this whole discussion; throw yourselves into the 
practical attitude which the parable of the sower and 
its explanation commend. Resist Satan, who at- 
tempts to pluck the good thought out of your heart, 
deepen your conviction of sin and the work of the 
Saviour, so that in time of temptation, though tried, 
you may triumph. Avoid that identification with 
either the cares, riches, or pleasures of the world. 



Mystery of the Kingdom of God. 163 

which, like the thorns, will spring up and choke the 
good seed and give your will that mysterious power 
whereby it defeats the will of God to save you. 

Let it be our daily, hourly effort to employ all agen- 
cies which God, in Christ, has provided in view of this 
mystery which belongs to the kingdom of God. Pri- 
vate prayer, devout study of the Holy Scripture, fam- 
ily prayer, worship in the Church, the Sacraments, 
preaching, fasting, almsgiving — these do not stand in 
an isolated position, as simple duties dependent on 
the mere letter of Holy Scripture or the Church's law, 
but they are parts of the kingdom of God, related to 
that mystery which we have been considering — they 
are the counteracting agents, by which that honest 
and good heart may be secured and protected, in 
vvhich alone the good fruit grows to a perfect harvest. 



SERMON XI. 



CHRIST Tvl AS DAY. 

ST. LUKE II. 10-14. 

''And the angel said unto them, Fear not : for ^ behold, I bring yon 
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is 
born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 
And this shall be a sigjt unto you.' Ye shall find the babe wrapped in 
swaddling clothes, lying in a majtger. And suddenly there was with the 
angel a 7nultitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to 
God in the highest, and o?i earth peace, good will toward men.''^ 

With the salutation and the song of angels 
when they kept the first Christmas Day, I greet 
you on this great feast, and welcome you with all 
my heart to its genial, and inspiriting solemnities. 
There are none too old, none too young, none too 
poor or too ignorant, too degraded or too afflicted, 
to share in the good news of this festival. 

To-day the great God spreads forth His hands, 
and gives His Evangelical benediction to the world, 
and says far and near, to everyone, ''Fear not: be- 
hold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall 
be to all people." Let all people then keep this 
Christmas Day. And let our Christmas solemnities 
be celebrated with deeper and holier earnestness as 
year by year passes. 

Let each Christmas be happier and merrier than 



Christmas Day. 



165 



the last; let the child and the parent alike be taught 
to hail every fresh approach of the feast with heartier 
joy, making the whole earth ring again with the 
Gloria in Excelsis, and sending back into the heavens 
the majestic antiphon which first came down from the 
heavens until, 

"Like circles widening round 
Upon a clear blue river, 
Orb after orb, the wondrous §ound 
Is echoed on forever." 

Let us go down to the foundation of our Christ- 
mas celebration, and ask. What is it that we are 
commemorating ? What is the fact on which our hearts 
are dwelling on this high festival ? 

We commemorate to-day the most stupendous, 
mysterious, and yet most real, of all the facts which 
can enter into the religious faith of a man; the basis 
of the Christian religion, the ground-truth on which 
rests the possibility of our original creation and daily 
preservation in our new creation, with its spiritual 
and eternal hopes; for, to use Lord Bacon's expres- 
sion in his Confession of Faith — "Neither angel, man, 
nor world, could stand, or can stand, one moment in 
his eyes, without beholding the same in the fact of a 
mediator." 

We commemorate to-day the manifestation of the 
plan by which God's original purposes of love to the 



Christmas Day. 



human race were to be fulfilled, although marred by 
our first parents in Eden, through their voluntary 
adoption of the false suggestion of Satan — the father 
of lies. 

The fact that in the Son of Mary unite the Deity 
and humanity, demonstrates the at-one-ment (or 
atonement) of the Creator and His creatures, and 
lays the basis for all true religion^ those holy acts 
of worship by which man is botind back again, in the 
bond of loving obedience, to His Father in Heaven. 

To-day is born the hope of the world. He who is 
the Shiloh, that Prophet, the Son and Lord of David, 
Emmanuel, Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, 
the Father of the Everlasting Age, the Prince of 
Peace. In Him, the central object of laud and wor- 
ship on this festival, are fulfilled, that is, filled up to 
the full, those outlines of truth, which holy men of 
old, in their persons, or by their writings, sketched 
upon the broad canvas of the world's history. And 
He fulfilled all types, all prophecies, all promises, 
which intimated a Deliverer for the race, a Saviour 
from sin and its consequences. 

In Eden, when Satan's word was listened to in 
preference to God's word, discord, dissensions, and 
death were introduced into the once united living 
stream of our humanity; and like that river in Eden, 
which parted and became four streams, the stream 
of our fallen humanity divided, and man was sepa- 



Christmas Day. 



16/ 



rated from his brother man, and all from God. But 
in Bethlehem of Judea, and in the birth of the Son 
of Mary, our humanity finds unity with God, and 
itself, and therefore up to this new Eden run all the 
streams of our divided humanity: and in the reap- 
pearance of the Word of God — in His Incarnation — 
we find the love which makes us one with God, and 
with each other. 

This is the good tidings of great joy which is for 
all people, that brought the angel down from Heaven 
to the shepherds of Judea, and which, when it was 
first announced filled Heaven and earth with angelic 
harmony. Fear not, I bring you good tidings of 
great joy which shall be to all people." And a mul- 
titude of the heavenly host burst forth in these words, 
Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good 
will toward men." 

Beloved, the angel's salutation, and the angels' 
song are realities. God help you and me to take 
them up into our hearts; and make them so for each 
one of us, that we may use them as the true utter- 
ance of our hearts. Oh, how far from realities have 
they been to many, who have heard them Christmas 
after Christmas for a lifetime; to many who have used 
them with their lips, but denied them in their lives ! 

Bring all systems, which man's brain has devised 
to obscure the simple Gospel of Christ, into the har- 
monies which float around Bethlehem of Judea on 



i68 



Christinas Day, 



this day of Christ's Nativity. Let all trembling souls 
that have been awed, or repelled, by the teachings 
of modern times, put themselves within the sound of 
the angel's salutation. See, the heavens open, and 
the noblest angel of the white-robed host is approach- 
ing earth. Swifter than lightning the angel with the 
good news descends : hear him, you who make, and 
you who tremble before, systems of theology that 
limit God's love! "Fear not, I bring you good tid- 
ings of great joy which shall be to all people." This 
is God's salutation to man, mark, not to a man, not 
to any one man, not to civilized, religious. Christian 
men, but this is God's salutation to all men. Fear 
not, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which 
shall be to all people. For unto us a Child is born 
this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is 
Christ the Lord." 

Truly this is good tidings of great joy to our world, 
groaning for four thousand years under the great lie 
of Satan, "Ye shall not surely die": this is good tid- 
ings of great joy to all people asking for a knowledge 
of Him who was their Deliverer and Leader, to Whom 
every sacrifice, act of worship, conviction of con- 
science, and earthly deliverance pointed. " Unto us 
is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord;" 
One who can be bone of our bone, and flesh of our 
flesh, and yet is Jehovah, uncreated, Eternal, Al- 
mighty. 



Christmas Day. 



169 



And this for all people ! Oh, blessed day ! oh, 
Gospel of good tidings of great joy, well might such a 
salutation stir the very angels, and make the morn- 
ing stars sing together, and all the sons of God shout 
for joy ! What angel is not honored, what man is 
not honored above expression, in being permitted 
in his own way, forcible, or feeble, to perpetuate this 
Gospel — the good news which came down from 
Heaven, on the first Christmas Day? The only Gos- 
pel which God has authorized any man to preach is, 
'' Fear not, I bring you good tidings of great joy, 
which shall be to all people." 

And, brother, wherever the good tidings of great 
joy enter into any man's heart, telling it that a Sa- 
viour is come, that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is He, 
God-man, Emmanuel : whenever these good tidings 
enter into the hearts of any congregation, or nation, 
or church, there will you see Satan's power over- 
thrown, and sin renounced and avoided. Then will 
you see patience, and forbearance, and sympathy, and 
pity, and charity, taking the place of wrath, and envy, 
and malice, and all uncharitableness. Then will burn- 
ing zeal for the souls and bodies of men flame forth in 
deeds of self-denial, and honest effort for their sanc- 
tification, and meet preparation for God, when He 
Cometh again for judgment. 

Be sure that where there is sin, open or secret, sin 
in the flesh, or in the spirit; where there is not hum- 



I/O 



CJiristinas Day. 



bleness of mind, purity, and a child's heart, there is 
no real reception of the angel's salutation: for it is' 
true now, it will be true ever, that this is the sign 
of Christ's presence, "Ye shall find the babe wrapped 
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Yes, 
where Christ and the Gospel are, there is the child- 
like spirit. The adorable Son of Mary, the Christ, the 
Saviour, is found not in the palace of a king, not in 
the mansions of the rich, not even in the hovel of the 
poor, but lower still in the scale of humiliation, and 
self-denial, in the stable amid the beasts of the stall. 

Well may we shrink back from the idea; but it is 
true, as irrevocably true as that any Christ at all is 
born; for thus spake the angel, "And this shall be a 
sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in 
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." There is no 
Christ, no Lord, no Jesus, no Emmanuel, if there be 
no babe lying in a manger. When God became man, 
it was for all that He humbled Himself, and He went 
down into the depths of our poor suffering humanity, 
below that which any son of man had penetrated, 
that He might be in sympathy with all; and that He 
might say to all, By this sign of your humility, and 
faith, shall you know assuredly that I am your Sa- 
viour, Christ the Lord. 

Be it then the Church's mission, each Christian's 
mission, to spread abroad, by every holy agency, the 
good tidings of great joy, that God has become man, 



Christinas Day. 



171 



a Saviour for all people, and that all shall find Him 
in every sign of true humility, charity, and deliver- 
ance from sin and Satan. It is a mission worth liv- 
ing and dying for, it is the only one which can per- 
petuate the angels' song in its primeval melody. 
Alter the angel's salutation a single note, and you 
cannot sound aright the angels' song, they will not 
sing it with you, and you have lost its keynote wholly. 

This incarnation, this humiliation, -by which the 
God of Heaven's worship, condescended to be born 
of woman, was not for you or me alone : was not for 
Patriarch, Jew, or Christian only: was not for Chris- 
tian or heathen only: — but as the Omniscient Son 
stood upon the circle of the Heavens, ere He came 
down to His humiliation. His eye embraced the count- 
less myriads, that were, or are, or shall be ; and in 
the fulness of divine compassion He entered on this 
work, which God's angel has here told us was *'Good 
tidings of great joy to all people." 

Oh, what a grand, stupendous, and most glorious 
thought is this — the doctrine of the Word and Church 
of God. To know, that between us all and each, 
there is a connection, direct and uninterrupted, which 
binds us to that Saviour whose humble birth we are 
now commemorating. The bond of our sharing in 
that Saviour's universal compassion, seeing that He 
became incarnate and took upon Him our flesh and 
blood, and, if we will only accept the free gift, made 



172 



Christmas Day. 



it possible for us to dwell with Him in Heaven. To 
this Saviour, in all the fulness of His nature, and His 
work, are we pointed in this holy festival of the 
Church. 

Let us open our hearts wide then, this day, and 
all days, to that truth which blesses us, and our chil- 
dren, and the world. 

Fear not, behold I bring you good tidings of 
great joy, which shall be to all people — this day is 
born a Saviour." And we shall sing with heart and 
voice our Gloria in Excelsis, that majestic laud of 
the Church militant and triumphant, " Glory to God 
in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." 



SERMON XII. 



CHRISTIANS THE REPRESENTATIVES OF CHRIST. 

DANIEL VI. 20. 

And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the 
living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver 
thee from the lions?'''' 

You have all remarked and been instructed by 
the firmness of Daniel in continuing his prayers three 
times a day in spite of his enemies; his unimpeachable 
integrity in his public, and civil, as well as in his re- 
ligious duties; the affectionate friendship between the 
Hebrew stranger and his imperial master Darius; his 
wonderful deliverance from the den of lions, and his 
final triumph. But has it ever occurred to you in 
studying this history, to dwell upon the momentous 
import of the question contained in the text, with 
which the king, in all sincerity, and earnestness, ap- 
proached the lions' den, after Daniel had passed the 
night there ? 

Is any one ready to inquire. What is there in the 
question beyond an exhibition of Darius's real love for 
Daniel, and his deep anxiety to ascertain the safety 
of his favorite minister ? I think that there is far 
more than that involved in this question. That long 



174 Christians the Representatives of Christ. 

night which Darius had passed in fasting, and which 
presented the unwonted spectacle of an oriental mon- 
arch's court, suddenly stripped of its brilliant pomp, 
and luxury, and his palace turned into a house of 
mourning, was a night of deep reflection, not on the mere 
personal issue involved in the life or death of Daniel, 
but on the higher and eternal issue of the truth or 
falsehood of Daniel's God. Whilst angelic messen- 
gers were beside the prophet in the den, restraining 
the fury of the ravenous beasts, satanic messengers 
exulting in their fancied victory, were busy with the 
heart of the Persian king, suggesting that now he 
should test the power of Bel, his idol god, and the 
vaunted power of Jehovah. Think for a moment, how 
certain Satan's emissaries must have been, when the 
servant of the living God was actually cast into the den 
of lions, and the seal secured the mouth. What could 
save him As in after days, when the Son of Man 
lay dead within the sealed sepulchre, so now, God and 
Satan were confronted, as it were, and in the eyes of 
men, a direct issue joined as to their relative power. 

Look at the question of the king as contained in 
the text. He does not say, O Daniel, loyal and 
faithful friend and ruler, art thou still alive } " No, he 
seems, with all his love for Daniel, to have merged 
the subject of Daniel's personal safety, in the deeper, 
more momentous, more startling question of the ABIL- 
ITY of Daniel's God. His words are, O Daniel, 



Christians the Representatives of Christ. 175 

servant of the living God, is THY GOD, whom thou 
servest continually, ABLE to deliver thee from the 
lions?" He is thinking of Daniel, not as his friend, 
but as God's representative, and exponent. He is 
inquiring, not only as to Daniel's safety, but as to the 
power of the living God ! His mind has been full of 
the question, which is true — his religion or Dan- 
iel's ? which is true — his God or Daniel's ? He has 
put the issue of this question upon Daniel's pres- 
ervation; and he has done it, not in an impatient, 
and unworthy spirit, but after a night of fasting, weep- 
ing, and praying. Satan, thinking himself secure, has 
contributed his share to bring about in the heart of 
the king — that great representative of heathendom — = 
this issue between true and false religion: and God's 
Spirit has done His share in suggesting the very same 
issue. The magnanimous heart of Darius was the 
battle-ground whereon was fought one of those de- 
cisive conflicts which, from the beginning of man's 
probation, to this hour, decide for a nation, and an 
age, the supremacy of truth over error; the essential 
power of the one ever-living God, the same yester- 
day, to-day, and forever. 

Just think for one moment, what would have been 
the result, had the king's call met with no response ! 
Do not believe that the only result would have been 
grief for a friend's death, soon to be forgotten in the 
splendors, and responsibilities of the imperial govern- 



1/6 Christians the Representatives of Christ. 

ment. As the lamentable tones of his full-hearted 
cry rang through the den, O Daniel, servant of the 
living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, 
able to deliver thee from the lions ? " Had the lips of 
Daniel's maimed body been sealed in death, response 
would have been given to the king in the lions' roar. 
The God of Daniel is not able; He is not the living 
God. And from that hour Darius would have been 
confirmed in his heathenism, and a darker night of error 
would have settled down on him and his multitu- 
dinous kingdom. The issue which Darius made when 
he cried, "Is thy God able.?" was not from impa- 
tience, nor through vain curiosity, it was an issue in 
which not only he, and his people, but all beings, in 
Heaven, in earth, and under the earth — were inter- 
ested; and the cry of the king, lamentable as it was 
in its audible tones, was in truth the fierce battle- 
cry of heathendom, as it rushed on to its discomfiture. 
Daniel was made, all unconsciously on his part, the 
representative of God. Darius, and his nobles, his 
nation, and that age, held Daniel as the visible expo- 
nent of the power of Him whom he served continu- 
ally. They felt that they had a right to decide 
upon the character of Jehovah in the person of His 
professed and inflexible worshipper. They had not 
access to written attestations of God's power in past 
ages, they were no students of Scripture, they were 
men of war, or philosophers after their kind, observers 



Christians the Representatives of Christ. 177 

of natural signs, and open to appeals, miraculous or 
otherwise, to their senses, and therefore, God was 
ready to give to Darius, and all whom he represented, 
the sign of power, which by the miraculous preser- 
vation of Daniel they justly asked. The king's cry 
was instantly answered. Daniel unhurt, replied, O 
king, live forever ! My God hath sent His angel, and 
hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt 
me:" and there went forth — as the imperishable me- 
morial of the glorious moral triumph for God and 
truth, which I think this history ought to teach — that 
decree addressed to all people, nations, and languages 
that dwell in the earth, ''That in every dominion, 
men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for 
He is the living God, and steadfast forever, and His 
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His 
dominion shall be even unto the end." 

Having, by this analysis, suggested to your minds, 
and in some degree, I hope, proved the strictly moral 
and spiritual lesson which this history teaches, let 
me offer it to you as a great and practical lesson 
wholesome for our day, most worthy to be studied 
and practised by every one' of us. If Daniel was held 
by Darius and the men of his day, as the representa- 
tive and exponent of the power and character of 
Jehovah, it is equally true, both upon principles 
of sound reason, and by the direct statement of the 
Word of God, that Christians, in their corporate, and 



1 78 Christians the Representatives of Christ. 



in their individual capacity, are the representatives 
of the Christian's God, and are held by the world 
around, as a sign of the power, and character of Jesus 
Christ our Lord and God. 

Let us contemplate first, the servants of Christ, 
in their great corporate capacity. I affirm that the 
Christendom of this age is justly held by the hea- 
thendom of this age as a witness to the power, and 
true nature of the God of Christendom. If any one 
who knows the history of states and governments 
ruled by professedly Christian men, shall shrink from 
this assertion; if he say, the wars," the wrongs, the 
vices, the extortions of civilized Christian nations, 
equal, and even exceed at times, those of the hea- 
then; so that the God of Christians, if we argue from 
His servants' actions, as to His nature and power, 
is as feeble as idols to restrain, and purify the passions 
of our humanity; — I answer, whether you shrink or 
not, the heathen will not fail to pass judgment after 
this rule; and they have judged, to the disgrace of 
ourselves, and to the hindrance of Christian missions, 
that our God is not able to deliver us from the dis- 
honesty and sins which oppress themselves. O that 
Christians, in their corporate character, would only 
realize how the world is daily making the issue which 
Darius made, between truth and error; and as it 
marks the sins of the Church, or of Christian nations, 
is asking in mockery, "Is thy God whom thou servest 



Christians the Representatives of Christ. 179 

continually, able to deliver thee from the lions ? " 
When one, looks at the history of our own Christian 
nation in its dealings with the Indians; when one 
considers the dealings of Christian Spain toward the 
ancient people of Mexico; or of England in the opium 
trade with China; — can we wonder that the nature 
of the God whom we profess to serve, is judged of 
by heathens and unbelievers, according to the moral 
character of Christians themselves ? Can we wonder 
that they think Him cruel, and weak, when they see 
exhibited such signs of rapacity, combined v/ith feeble 
morals ? 

O Christian people, whether we believe it or not, 
whether or not we admit the justice of the rule — the 
world, the heathen, the infidel, of all sorts are decid- 
ing the great question between truth and error, in 
our actions. The cry of heathendom — oh, how lam- 
entable often in its tones of disappointment ! — has 
gone up — it ought to be heard by us — saying, Ser- 
vants of the living God, is your God, whom you serve 
continually, able to deliver you from the lions ? " Is 
He able to save you from those sins, and vices, and 
influences of evil, which our gods have not been able 
to do for us ? Is your God whom you serve, able to 
deliver you from the power of lust, and licentiousness, 
and intemperance, and love of money ? Is thy God 
able to deliver thee from the lions ? " 

But let us turn for a moment, to consider our sub- 



i8o Chidstians the Representatives of Christ. 

ject in its application to us Christians, in our more 
personal relations. As the individual follower of 
Jesus, it is the duty of each one to receive, and pon- 
der well, the truth, that each Christian disciple is held 
to be the representative of the power and nature of 
Him whom he serves. In all this discourse I have 
said nothing of the other truth, which is the correla- 
tive of that which we are now considering; viz., that 
we must judge of a system by its own merits, and not 
by the action of its nominal professors. That truth 
I do not forget, but it is equally a truth, that each 
Christian ought to be a representative of Christ in this 
world; that so has Christ Himself appointed, and that, 
justly or not, the world and unbelievers do so regard 
the Christian disciple. If they should judge that 
Christ has not power to help His disciples, because 
the disciples of Christ do not manifest spiritual power 
over themiselves, it may be perfectly true that the real 
solution is to be found in the heartless, formal, or 
hypocritical character of that Christian, but — and this 
is the point — the world will set it down to the ina- 
bility of Christ and His faith. 

Christians are, in the eye of the world, the ex- 
ponents of Christ — the representatives of His faith 
and Gospel. The issue between the power of Christ, 
and that of the god of this world is constantly going 
forth — O servant of the living God, is thy God, whom 
thou servest continually, able to deliver thee " Can 



Christians the Representatives of Christ. i8i 

Christ — can the Gospel — can the religion which you 
profess, and to which you seem to cling — can He or it 
deliver you from those lions which ravage the heart 
and moral character of men of the world ? Can thy 
God deliver thee, O Christian, from impurity, from cov- 
etousness, from selfishness ? Can Christ give thee 
power to be truthful in the midst of falsehood — 
honest in the midst of fraud — temperate in the midst 
of indulgence — pure in the midst of the most seduc- 
tive vice? Is thy God able to make thee use power 
with discretion, bear reverses with fortitude, meet 
death with resignation ? 

Oh, brother in Christ, you may shrink from being 
thus made to answer for Christ; you may point away 
from yourself to the holy books which record the 
words and principles of the Master, the Founder of 
the faith; but the world will not let you so divert 
their eyes, nor obscure the point of their stern inter- 
rogatory. The question is not whether the Bible be 
a better, more truthful and holy book than the Koran 
of Mahomet, or the book of Mormon — but, are you, 
the lover of that Book, the servant of its Author, the 
defender of its faith, the commender of its authority 
as the sole rule of faith and practice — are you a bet- 
ter man than the Mahometan, or the man who makes 
no pretension to serve Christ, and to invoke the Spirit 
of the living God ? 

This is the question, and the unbeliever will hold 



1 82 Christians the Representatives of Christ. 

each Christian to its answer. And for one, though it 
humbles me to say so, I trust that each Christian 
will be so held by the world; so held to its answer, 
that we shall confess publicly that we are consciously 
inconsistent; and, roused to a deeper sense of our re- 
sponsibility, determine to claim, and use the grace 
offered, so as to be indeed Christ's representatives 
in the world — the light, and the salt of this dark, 
and corrupting mass of a fallen humanity. 

The appeal — " Servant of the living God, is thy 
God ABLE } " ought to be answered. We should each 
one, be able to say, I have, by the grace of God, by 
Christ in me, and not of myself, a power which the 
servants of sin and the devil have not. Jesus, by 
His Spirit, is able to deliver me from the lion. He 
has delivered me, and will still, if I am faithful — will 
deliver me from those sins, which, without His help, 
will devour like a lion and tear in pieces the moral 
nature of men. 

Brothers in Christ, if our daily life does not make 
the just response to the world's demand, that we show 
the power of our God, what a fearful responsibility 
rests upon us. Should we not at once confess our 
sins, humble ourselves before our injured Saviour, and 
seek for pardon and new grace Oh ! when the 
world says — It is a Christian man who defrauds; it is 
a Christian man who yields to temptations to dis- 
honesty, or vice, or crime; when it mocks us, and says, 



Christians the Representatives of Christ. 183 

Servants of God, your God is not able to deliver 
you — " let us humble ourselves; let us feel a brother's 
sin as shared in by us; for all our lukewarmness, and 
sin, and inconsistency, whether known or not, do, in 
their degree, wrong Christ, and hinder the glorious 
purposes of His kingdom. Let us, then, bear about 
with us the daily recollection that the warfare between 
Christ and Satan is waged in our own persons; and that 
our inconsistency decides for the world against Christ. 
Let us know that we have much fo do toward en- 
couraging those who ask in a truly lamentable voice, 
sick of the world's impotency, and hoping that we can 
answer them with satisfaction, — *'0 servant of the 
living God, is .thy God, Whom thou servest continually, 
able to deliver thee from the lions } " A consistent, 
holy course may win, through Jesus' merits, souls to 
Christ, and honor to the living God, Whom we serve 
continually. 



SERMON XIIL 



{Thanhs giving Day. ) 
GOD ALOXE THE OBJECT OF THAXK5GIVIXG. 

ls"EHEMLVH IX. 5, 6. 

Staiid up aiid bless the Lord your God for ever a7id ever; and blessed 
be Thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. 
Tliou, eve7i Thou, art Lord alone; TJiou hast made heaven, tJie heaven of 
heavetis, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the 
seas, and all that is tJiereiti, and Thou preservest ihem all; and the host of 
lieaven worshippeth T7iee.'' 

This is the Avay that men of faith, in the olden 
time were wont to keep Holy Day, and this is a 
specimen of the fervor and fulness of their songs 
of thanksgiving. There is no mistaking either the 
object, or the heartiness of their lauds. They had 
been compelled to learn by scourgings manifold, 
as well as b}' benedictions; in war and in peace; 
by pestilence and by health; by fruitless and fruit- 
ful years — that the Lord, and the Lord alone is God. 
In every way those old Hebrews had been taug-ht 
the difficult lesson that the Creator and Conservator 
of themselves, and all above, around, and beneath 
them, was Jehovah onh'. Whether the nations around 
accounted it wise or foolish, to refuse to glorif}' the 
secondary agents of Providence, those men of God of 
the Ancient Israel, did not inquire. Whether the 



God alone the Object of Thanksgiving. 185 



scoffers of their own country accounted it super- 
stitious or rational, to forget in their thanksgiving, 
the plough, the ship, and the net, those brave old 
Jews did not care. This one thing absorbed their 
hearts — that all their mercies came from God. 

This first, eternal, universal truth had been burnt 
into the very heart of their national consciousness, 
amid the miraculous scenes of Egypt, the wilderness, 
and the promised land. Therefore as it filled their 
hearts, it likewise filled their tongues. They could 
not forget that the Lord who forced the sun and 
moon to stand still in the valley of Ajalon, had made 
heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host. 

He who commanded, and the solid ground opened 
her mouth to receive the rebellious sons of Korah, 
Dathan, and Abiram, had made the earth and all 
things that are therein; as they could not forget that 
He who cleft a way for their forefathers through the 
tumultuous waves of the Red Sea — had made the seas 
and all that is therein, and that He alone preserved 
them all; so they would not glorify the brilliant host 
of heaven that adorned the firmament — nor the strong 
ploughshare that opened the treasures in the reluctant 
earth, nor the gallant ship that bore them over the 
stormy deep, nor the broad net that rifled the teem- 
ing waters. 

Like men of faith, like men of reason, they kept 
their Holy Day by calling one to another and saying. 



1 86 God alone the Object of Thanksgiving. 



Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into 
His courts with praise;" therefore w^ere they ready to 
declare in the presence of an infidel science, ''It is 
God that hath made us, and not Ave ourselves." 

Divested of all technicalities, it may be said that 
the ground-truth on which reposes the magnificent 
outburst of thanks in the text, is this — that God is 
the ultimate source of all our blessings, the Author, 
Preserver, and Giver of all our mercies. This is the 
great keynote which harmonizes all the rising and 
falling inflections into which those noble songs of 
praise in the Psalter swell, as in one sentence they 
describe the earth and seas of this lower world, and 
then soar upward to the heaven — to the very heaven 
of heavens. 

That whether you look at the changes and chances 
w^hich at one time seem to rule at their own unre- 
strained will; or at those fixed laws which seem, 
again, to have irreversible authority over the sea, 
and the host of heaven, still, it is God alone who is 
the Preserver and Disposer, as He is the Maker of 
all, — this is the grand under-tone of the text, which 
gives divine dignity to its splendid utterances. 

Do you ask, Does the preacher seriously mean to 
say that the doctrine that God is the Creator and 
Preserver of all things, and the Giver of all our bless- 
ings, is a difficult problem for a Christian people to 
master Do we not affirm the doctrine every day 



God alone the Object of Thanksgiving. 187 

in the Creed ? Have we not this morning echoed 
the old Nicene war-cry, which for fifteen hundred 
years and more, has rung throughout Christendom — 
''I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker 
of heaven and -earth, and of all things visible and 
invisible ? " 

My brother, I did not mean to say that it is a 
very hard thing to repeat the Creed; or to hold as a 
doctrine in orthodox divinity the first article, which 
declares our belief in God; but I did mean to say, 
and I reaffirm it, that to repeat that first article in 
our daily lives; to turn our Creed into action; to 
make the doctrine of God's creating, preserving power 
a vital fact: and to pass through this world, using 
every agency of providence with energy, and yet, 
all the while looking through this providence and 
identifying the personal presence and operation of 
the Original First Cause — this, I do say, is one of the 
most difficult lessons to master in moral science. It 
is a lesson for man, as man, to study. It is the lesson 
which Almighty God began with, as soon as He had 
created man, and which, in all the variations of His 
providential dealings. He has, for nearly six thousand 
years, been striving to teach our race. It is the very 
lesson which Satan, when he entered the Garden of 
Eden, sought to obscure, and hide from the hearts, 
and comprehension of Adam and Eve, and through 
them of all mankind. 



1 88 God alone the Object of Thanksgiving. 

What, after all, is the great seminal truth to 
which the dispensations — Patriarchal, Levitical, and 
Christian — tend, but this that Jehovah, the one 
only God — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the 
Maker, Preserver, Sanctifier of all; the loving Father 
of all — the loving Conservator of all ? the Giver of 
every good and perfect gift, whether for the body, 
intellect, or spirit; whether to the nation or the 
individual; whether for the life that now is, or for 
the life everlasting ? 

And has this lesson been thoroughly learned by all 
men of the past dispensations ? Is it now learned 
as it ought to be, by even all Christians, who have 
the Evangelical aids and appliances for mastering it ? 
Cast your thoughts for a moment over the world's 
history, before turning them in upon your own hearts, 
and experiences, and see how this elementary truth 
has seemed to foil, at every age, many who perhaps 
thought it too simple to test their powers. 

Our first parents, for example, had this lesson set 
before them amid all the wonders and blessings of the 
original paradise. The one plain unmistakable truth 
which God would teach Adam and Eve was this — I 
am the Author and Giver of all your blessings; look 
to Me, and obey Me alone. Their expulsion from the 
fair garden, amid the signs of a marred creation, is a 
melancholy demonstration that they had failed to 
master this truth, and had looked to another than 



God alone the Object of Thaiiks giving. 189 

God as the source of their highest blessings. The 
first Adam did not believe God Who said, ''The day 
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," and fell 
down and worshipped Satan, when he listened to the 
lying words, ''Thou shalt not surely die" — eat "and 
ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." 

And as the world went on, though the manifesta- 
tion of God's particular and constant presence, in and 
through the secondary agencies of His providence, 
was clear, see in the mythological systems of the old 
peoples of the world, how men forgot the truth that 
Jehovah made the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, 
with all their host; the earth, and all things that are 
therein; the seas, and all that is therein; and preserved 
them all; — see, I say, how the world fell into the idol- 
atry of worshipping the host of heaven, the beasts of 
the earth, the fishes of the sea, and the most debasing 
forms of the material creation. I need not stop to 
describe at length the abominable idolatries of As- 
syria and Egypt, and the older nations of the world, 
who degraded themselves so low as to worship the 
very beasts of. the field, and the productions of the 
earth. 

And when, as we trace down the stream of history, 
we find that God vouchsafed, in marvellous wisdom, to 
select out of the mass of mankind, the family of 
Abraham, to be the educators of their fellow-men, in 
the great truth that Jehovah was their God, and that 



1 90 God alone the Object of Thanks giving, ^ 

He alone was the Author and Giver of all mercies; 
with what difficulty did the Israelites themselves mas- 
ter the lesson, so as to be, in any degree, helpers to 
others ! 

Up to the days of Nehemiah, and the discipline of 
the seventy years' captivity, they did not seem at 
times to comprehend it; but worshipped at one time 
the golden calf, at another followed after the idola- 
tries of the people around, and in the later days of 
the want of faith, they were afflicted until the whole 
nation was disintegrated under the grinding of that 
Rock which fell on them because they would not 
make it their defence; and were finally scattered to 
the four corners of the earth. 

But let us turn from other times, and creeds, and 
glance now at the Christian world in its attempt to 
master the lesson that the Lord God alone is the 
Maker, Preserver, Benefactor of the world: — the Giver 
of temporal as well as of spiritual mercies; the Giver 
of that greatest, most mysterious, inestimable gift 
of Jesus Christ His Son, to be the Saviour of the 
world. . Is God — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the 
One, the only object of worship all over Christendom } 
Is there no worshipping of money, of self, among 
Christians of all sorts ? Have all Christians so mas- 
tered the lesson that God is the Author, Preserver, 
and Benefactor of all, that they refer to Him, to His 
will, to His Word, always and above all } Are sec- 



God alone the Object of TJianksgiving. 191 

ondary agencies in the preservation of the Republic, 
and in the spread of the Faith and Church of Christ, 
employed with a consciousness that after all it is God 
that works in, and through them ? Is there faith 
enough even now, after six thousand years, to take 
God at His word, and, by act as well as in creed, say, 
"Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone"? 

And when, now, in examination we restrict our 
thoughts to the narrower, and perhaps more practical 
limits of individual experience, the result must be, I 
think, that even the most thoughtful Christians need 
to be roused to a consciouness of their duty in this 
first article of their faith. The adverse influences to 
make us rest in something short of God, our Heavenly 
Father, are powerful in our times, though changed 
as to their form, and modes of influence. 

Besides the natural tendency of the heart to make 
God a sort of stoical divinity, apart from the daily 
works, and ways of life; without sympathy with us, 
and our concerns; there is the subtle argument that 
an original law or force communicated to material 
things, is adequate to account for all the working of 
the universe, without degrading the Infinite and Om- 
nipotent God into the position of watching the fall of 
a sparrow or numbering the hairs of our head. These, 
and similar tendencies, are ever-acting to make our 
belief in a personal, superintending God, an abstrac- 
tion, or a sentiment. We are liable to forget the sim- 



192 God alone tJie Object of Thanksgiving. 



pie truth that what is not too insignificant for God to 
make, is not too insignificant for God to take care of. 
But in addition to all this, whilst the regularity of 
the operations of nature makes som.e believe that 
nature is God, and not His handmaid; the disorders 
which are witnessed, and the apparent lawlessness of 
some things, lead others to think that chance, and 
not God, rules in the affairs of men; so that from with- 
out, and within, even Christians have hindrances, 
which demonstrate the difficulty of practically com- 
prehending the grand ground-truth of ethical science, 
and of revealed religion that God, and God alone, 
makes and preserves all things, and is the Giver of 
all our mercies. In proportion as you have mastered 
practically the great lesson of which we have spoken, 
and which God gives to all men to study, in that pro- 
portion will you keep this day. 

This is called a day of thanksgiving to Almighty 
God I Can any one keep it whose thoughts rest on 
the mere machinery by which Almighty God works 
out His loving and merciful will towards us } No 
matter what be a man's creed, or theory, if practically 
it is the sun, or the rain, or the ploughshare, or the 
husbandman's skill which claims his thought, when 
he thinks of the fruitful harvest — that man keeps no 
Thanksgiving Day. And if wealth be ascribed to 
mere shrewdness, or civil prosperity to mere legisla- 
tion; if health be ascribed to the mere means of cure. 



God alone the Object of Thanks giviftg. 193 



or safety from peril to the mere subordinates of God's 
care — no Thanksgiving Day is kept. 

If even those higher forms of blessing which ex- 
ercise our minds, and cultivate our hearts, and elevate 
our souls to things of God and Christ, are not con- 
sciously referred to God our Father — we do not keep 
Thanksgiving Day to Almighty God, aright. 

Beloved, let us drop all thoughts of the mere dra- 
pery in which our God has been near us during the 
past year, and here to-day, as men, as citizens, as 
members of families, as Christians, as Churchmen, let 
us think of GOD — Father, Son and Holy Ghost — as He 
has been blessing us during the year — as He and He 
alone, has been giving or withholding, for our best and 
permanent interests, His innumerable mercies. Look 
steadily, and you may see in even all the trials of the 
year, the presence of a loving Father. " The Lord 
gave — the Lord hath taken away — blessed be the 
name of the Lord," is surely not a sentiment out of 
place, even on a Day of Thanksgiving. And oh, if 
this day your hearts swell as you think of the civil, 
religious, temporal, and social mercies which have 
blessed you, let this good feeling overflow in deeds 
of mercy and charity to those who may be helped 
and made cheerful by your alms. He whose heart 
is filled with gratitude to God — our common Father, 
will not forget, this day, his needy fellow-men and 
brothers. Stand up then, like good and true Christian 



194 God alone the Object of TJiaiiksgiving. 



people, and boldly avow, that all you have, and hope 
for. is from God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. If 
you have sanity of mind, health of bod\', comforts of 
home, if you have been preserved in safety, or pros- 
pered in any vay: if you are grateful for the political, 
religious, and social blessings of the past year; if even 
amid public, or domestic calamities, there have still 
been tokens of mercy. — now, this day. thank God and 
Him only, by worship, by almsgiving, by a daily life 
of faith and love. 

Oh, my brother — if you verily believe that God's 
glorious name is exalted above all blessing and praise; 
if you are willing to pierce through all subordinate 
agencies, and look up to the Father, saying, *'Thou, 
even Thou, art Lord alone, — Thou hast made heaven, 
and the heaven of heavens, with all their host; the 
earth, and all things that are therein; the seas, and all 
that is therein; and Thou preservest them all, and the 
host of heaven worshippeth Thee" — then brother, now, 
and for all your days, act like a man. act like a 
Christian, and by your Christian words and deeds 
Stand up ana bless the Lord \-our God for ever and 
ever."' Then let us call to one another in the jubilant 
words of the Psalmist of old, and say — "Enter into 
His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with 
praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. 
Yea, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord."' 



SERMON XIV. 



CHRIST THE INTERPRETER OF HISTORY AND NATURE. 

REVELATION V. 2-5. 

'^ And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice. Who is 
worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in 
heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, 
neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found 
worthy to open, and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one 
of the elders saith unto ??ie. Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Jtidah, 
the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the 
seven seals thereof.'''' 

The canon of inspiration, as we now have it, closes 
with the Revelation of St. John the Divine, and yet 
this seems to be a portion of the Sacred Volume 
which has met with strange neglect, notwithstand- 
ing the singular promise of benediction to its readers 
and hearers. 

Christian students act as if they were forbidden, 
instead of encouraged, to make it the especial sub- 
ject of devout meditation; some there are, who per- 
haps utterly exclude from their practical study, this 
wonderful, mysterious, yet instructive and blessed 
portion of the Bible. Now, the difficulty of under- 
standing it does not seem to be a good reason for so 
neglecting it: especially, too, when we reflect how 
little after all, of Holy Scripture we do actually un- 



ig6 Christ the Interpreter. 



derstand, and when we further remember the bene- 
diction, Blessed is- he that readeth, and they that 
hear the words of this prophecy." 

I do not intend to say that I understand every 
thing which is written in the Revelation of St. 
John. I do not; neither do I recollect to have read 
any expositor of it, who himself seemed to under- 
stand it all; and yet this can form no good reason for 
neglecting its devout and frequent study. We must 
remember that edification does not always come 
through the understanding; and we may be taught 
life-long lessons of humility, reverence, and faith, 
when we are brought into the presence of an inspired 
passage which compels us to adore, whilst it chal- 
lenges us to comprehend it fully. I may be allowed 
to say then — that I think the Revelation of St. John 
will be found to be one of the most practical and 
edifying of all the books of Scripture; the very 
book for these latter days; the key to the distant 
past, the key to the other written portions of God's re- 
vealed Word and to all true history; it may yet, by the 
protection of Him whose Word it is, rescue -itself 
from curious and imaginative speculations, and dis- 
close itself to patient faitli, as the unfanciful inter- 
preter of the past, as well as of the future; the utter- 
ance of Him who WAS and IS, as well as of Him Who 
is to come. 

After the disclosure to St. John of the fate of 



CJu'ist the Interpreter. 



197 



the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, which the best 
Biblical scholars agree in thinking to be a revelation 
of the future condition of the Christian Church under 
all phases, the Apostle beholds a heavenly vision, in 
which the thrice holy God is seated on His throne, 
with a mysterious book in His right hand, written 
within and without, and sealed with seven seals. 

And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud 
voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose 
the seals thereof? And no man in Heaven, nor in 
earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the 
book, neither to look thereon. And I Avept much 
because no man was found worthy to open and to 
read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of 
the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold the Lion 
of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath pre- 
vailed to open the book, and to loose the seven 
seals thereof" 

Now let me ask you to forget for a moment, that 
you are dealing with a portion of the Bible which 
has been often associated with curious, and perhaps 
fruitless speculations; and let me invite you to con- 
template with the coldest and severest judgment, the 
simple facts which this record of the text presents 
to us. 

In the right hand of God there is a mysterious 
► book, written within and without. Has not God 

written His will and ways, in mysterious characters, 



198 Christ the Interpreter. 



in all historic records, sacred and profane, whicli have 
come down to us ? Has not God written His will 
in that inner history of the soul's experience, which 
is contemporaneous with the external, historical rec- 
ord ? Has He not written His will in even the ma- 
terial world, which we are accustomed to describe 
as *'The BOOK of Nature." 

It is the truth then, that God has written con- 
cerning His nature, will, and ways, in those myste- 
rious characters which seem to cover the very earth 
and sky around, as well as the literature of our race. 
All history, sacred or secular — in the truth of grace, 
or of nature, national or individual — whether describ- 
ing the outer or the inner life of man; all history is 
a mysterious book of God, held in His right hand, 
and literally written within and without. Whatever 
God has said, or caused to be said, as to His will, 
directly by inspiration, or indirectly by the poets 
and historians, or the prophets, of our race, — that is 
His book. Whether it relate to the past or the 
future, is all one to Him Who is the same yesterday, 
to-day, and forever. 

But look again. The book which the text de- 
scribes, was sealed with seven seals, which no man 
was able to break, so as to read the writing. Say 
you, this circumstance forbids the application of the 
text to HISTORY, inspired, or uninspired, because all 
history is plain and understood 1 What is past is 



Christ the Interpreter. 



unsealed — whatsoever was written aforetime was writ- 
ten for our learning, and we are, of ourselves, able 
clearly to learn and apply it, — it is the future only 
that can justly be said to be sealed up from our 
penetration ? Now this I emphatically deny. By 
mere natural discernment, you can no more under- 
stand the true testimony of the Rocks, than you can 
the true testimony of the written Word. History is 
as dark as prophecy to any man who, by his unaided 
powers, undertakes to read it. The Bible, in its rec- 
ords of the past, is as truly a sealed book, to the un- 
aided reason, as the Bible in its foretellings of the 
future. You know no more of the meaning of what 
has been, than of that which shall be, unless you have 
an interpreter; and the contradictions of historians 
and men of natural science, which are as great as the 
contradictions of theologians and students of proph- 
ecy, form my proof I address those who are accus- 
tomed to make their choice among the historians of 
Greece, and Rome, and England, as well as those 
who make their choice among the expositors of 
prophecy. There is quite as great a variety among 
those who tell us what has been, as among those who 
tell us what shall be. The philosophy of Biblical 
history is as hard a task to elaborate, as the philoso- 
phy of Biblical prophecy. The facts of nature are as 
much a mystery as the facts of revelation. 

If any one think that he understands the past, be- 



200 



Christ the hiterpreter. 



cause he can read in Holy Scripture the facts that 
have happened, why cannot he understand the future 
as well, since there are records in the same Holy 
Scriptures, of facts which are to happen ? What are 
facts but exponents of principles ? If you cannot 
penetrate into those principles, you cannot be justly 
said to understand the facts. The past is as mysteri- 
ous as the future, for all permanent, spiritual purposes, 
unless you bring to its study something more than a 
man's understanding and a man's philosophy. Again 
I say it — The past history, outward and inward, of 
man's doings and experience is as literally a sealed 
book unbroken by man's unaided wit, as his future 
history is a sealed book. 

But look again at the text, and note another cir- 
cumstance which it brings to view. **And I wept 
much, because no man was found worthy to open and 
to read the book, neither to look thereon." Even in 
the celestial vision, the rapt Evangelist could not re- 
strain his tears at the disappointment he felt that the 
glorious yet mysterious book could not be read, nor 
intelligently looked upon. And is there no one who 
has sympathized with the Apostle: who, with St. 
John, has sighed, from his very heart, for some one to 
interpret the history of the world } What have been 
all the longings and efforts of the wisest philosophers 
of ancient and modern days, as they have speculated 
upon the meaning of events — national and individual 



Christ the Interpreter. 



201 



— which have gone to form the history of this earth 
and its inhabitants, but examples like St. John, of 
men who have "wept much because no maJi was found 
worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look 
thereon " ? When one looks at the mysterious rise, 
decline, and fall of empires; at the ominous stain of 
human blood which, from the days of Cain and Abel 
to this hour, has seemed to defile every page of his- 
tory; at the triumph of fraud and violence in men and 
nations; at the sorrow and suffering of the weak and 
defenceless: — when one contemplates the inextricable 
tangle into which history seems to have been cast, so 
that if God has written His will in the outer and inner 
life of men, and nations, the book is certainly sealed 
in seven-fold mystery. And in despair of man's in- 
terpretation of it, we may well weep much until from 
a higher sphere, a hope shall be given of some one 
strong enough, and wise enough, to break the seals, 
and interpret its meaning. 

I do not wonder that men, with nothing but their 
limited and imperfect powers to help them, have read 
themselves into scepticism as they pored over the 
book of nature, and the records of history; nor that 
in the same way, they have wrested even the Inspired 
Volume to their own destruction. No man — in Hea- 
ven, on earth, or under the earth — is worthy, of him- 
self, to interpret the mysterious characters which 
cover the book of nature, and the scroll of history. 



202 



Christ the Interpreter. 



And now, listen to the other particular which the 
text notices. 

''And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: 
behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of 
David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose 
the seven seals thereof." 

That which man cannot do, has been done. His- 
tory — outer and inner — the record of God's dealings 
with men, and nature — the sum of all that men have 
thought, and said, and done, and felt, which goes to 
make up all true history — sacred and secular — history, 
which is so certainly an enigma, a sealed book, to any 
one who brings to its study only a man's powers — is 
luminous with eternal truth, with the manifestation of 
God's nature and will, when studied under the guid- 
ance of Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, 
the Root of David. Christ is the Interpreter of all 
history. It is He and He alone, who opens the book 
of God, and looses the seven seals thereof Christ is 
the only One who has taught us to read aright history 
— sacred and secular — of individuals and nations — the 
inner and outer scroll, covered with the mystic record 
of man's experiences and doings. If you read history, 
without taking Christ as He has disclosed Himself, in 
the evangelical records, for your guide, you cannot be 
said to even look upon the past. It is a sealed book, 
neither disclosing God's will and ways nor having 
much of interest or edification for you. A simple 



Christ the Interpreter, 



203 



record of downfalls and uprisings, of unsuccessful or 
successful wars; of vice often getting the better of 
virtue; of evil, rather than good, having for many a 
long period, chief rule in the affairs of men — what is 
there here to instruct, to edify, to comfort ? 

But the Lion of the tribe of Judah can work the 
change, and make us see our life, our destiny, in the 
records of the past; He — the Son of God — in Whose 
image man was made. Who is man's true Lord and 
Saviour; He Who has been disclosing, amid all the 
changes and chances of individuals, and nations, the 
nature of our God, as a loving, holy and true Father 
— He alone can break the mystic seals of the past, 
and make the scroll of history, in its outer or inner 
records, declare the truth and power of God and good, 
amid the frightful and conflicting memorials of the 
past. History — whether written by inspired or unin- 
spired men — true history is, under Christ's disclosure, 
the record of God's dealings with a race that had 
fallen from their knowledge of, and obedience to, their 
Father and Ruler. It is the record of that struggle 
between good and evil, which always, in its issue 
demonstrates that good is stronger than evil, and that 
sin is punished in the end and righteousness rewarded. 
The Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, our Lord, 
has taught us that all Scripture has been given by 
God's inspiration, and is profitable for us upon whom 
the ends of the world have come. 



204 



Christ the Interpreter. 



The Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ our 
Lord, has taught us that whatsoever — yes, whatso- 
ever was written aforetime was written for our learn- 
ing, that we by patience and comfort in our study 
thereof might have hope.. Hope of ultimate triumph 
for God, and truth, for ourselves and our race; hope, 
that in the struggle which is going on at this day, and 
which will form the material for some future historian, 
there shall yet be manifested the power and presence 
of the thrice holy and omnipotent Father of us all. 

He who will not take Christ for his authority, who 
does not acknowledge Him as the true and only In- 
terpreter of History, is not fit to be a historian for his 
race. He cannot tell us one truth or give us any in- 
formation, beyojid the mere surface facts. He may 
be a chronicler; but a historian, never. What avails 
it to you and me, for any one to tell us that the an- 
tediluvian world was destroyed by a flood } Or to 
describe the travels of Abraham, the fortunes of his 
descendants, the divisions and fall of the Hebrew peo- 
ple .-^ Of what particular value is it to us that Noah, 
Daniel, and Job lived } Who, except political or 
classical scholars, need care to read of the struggles 
of the warlike nations of olden times, or the equally 
desperate struggles in diplomacy of the nations of 
modern times t What is the history of civilization to 
us, except as an amusement, or a portion of higher 
intellectual culture t What special lesson is taught 



Christ the Interpreter. 



205 



us in the trials and triumph of Joseph in Egypt ? or 
in the sin of David the king ? What need we care 
for the history of the successes of brave, temperate, 
and truth-speaking men and nations; or for the ulti- 
mate reverses of those who were lawless, effeminate 
and licentious ? What to us, at this day, is the record 
of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ? or the 
infidelity, and the scenes of the French Revolution ? 
The past is past; and it has no lofty and life-enduring 
lessons for those who, because it is past, think they 
understand it, and only find materials for speculations 
in political economy. 

But let the Lion of the tribe of Judah go before 
us, and break down the barrier which the seven seals 
put upon the mysterious scroll, written within and 
without. Let Jesus Christ be taken as the true and 
only Interpreter of History, and He will declare to 
us how, in all true records, inspired or not, of inner 
life, or outward act, of individuals and of nations — 
God, the Father of all, has been dealing with a fallen, 
a sinful, and rebellious race, in preparing them for 
the manifestation, in the flesh, of their Saviour and 
King. Jesus Christ, the true Interpreter of History, 
will declare to us how, amid the tangled mazes of 
history, with its multiform characters, filling all parts 
of the mystic scroll, there has been working out the 
great truth that God is holy, just, and loving; that 
men or nations who departed from His will as written 



206 



Christ the Interpreter. 



in their consciences, or given to them by His express 
revelation, should be destroyed; that right is eternal 
— truth is eternal — law and order are eternal; and 
that away from God, or in opposition to His will, 
and Word, there is no permanent peace, nor strength, 
nor triumph, nor happiness, to any man nor to the 
world. Jesus Christ is the true Interpreter of History; 
and He tells us how, amid all the failures of man's 
wisdom and power, for four thousand years, a de- 
monstration was wrought out that the world by 
wisdom knew not God, and that there was need of 
the strong arm of God the Son to save us and the 
world, if there was to be any salvation for man. 

Beloved, the thought which I have offered to you 
tells us how the light of God's truth can alone illu- 
mine our path to eternal life. You cannot read the 
inspired Scriptures aright unless Jesus Christ, by His 
ever-present Spirit, be your Instructor, — His nature 
and mission the beginning and the end of your 
thoughts, the Interpreter of the ultimate design of 
its multiform and complicated history. The unin- 
spired history of man cannot be studied aright un- 
less you see in it the mysterious purposes of God, 
preparing the way for the full manifestation of His 
nature and will in the Advent of His only-begotten 
Son, the brightness of His glory, and the express 
image of His person. Nay, I venture to add, that 
even the book of Nature (which is but another chapter 



Christ the Interpreter. 



207 



in the mystic book held by God in His right hand) 
will be a sealed volume, unless in its investigation 
you take with you the Lion of the tribe of Judah, to 
break its seven seals. 

The Proposition of this sermon is, that all History, 
sacred or secular — of nations or individuals — of out- 
ward actions, or inward experiences — all history, 
whether written in the Bible, in literary memorials 
or in nature, is sealed unless Christ interpret it for 
us, and tell us how it discloses air things tending to 
the glory of God, in the person of His Incarnate Son. 
By prayer, by Christian-like study, by the use of 
the means of grace to give us more and more of the 
Holy Spirit of Jesus, shall we be able to read, and 
mark, and gain comfort from all Scripture. 

Oh, beloved, let us not be deluded by mere terms: 
not the future only, but the past, is full of Him Who 
was, and is, and is to be; and without Him is sealed. 
Not predictions of future events only, but all that has 
been written on the outside, as well as the inside of 
the world and its inhabitants, is prophecy fulfilled. 
All history, all nature, all that has been felt and done 
by men and nations, is prophecy, and the past is as 
truly sealed as the future to any man who does not 
trust in the power of the Lion of the tribe of Judah; 
and who is not willing to confess that "The Testimony 
of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy." 



SERMON XV, 

(Ask Wednesday.) 



REST. 

ST. MARK VI. PART OF THE 3 1 ST VERSE. 

" Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place ^ a7id rest a while. ''^ 

A PERIOD of rest then v^as good, even for the 
Apostles of Christ. Rest, apart from the world, and 
ill a desert place too, with no carnal attractions. 
Christ then seems to intimate that the repose con- 
templated spiritual as well as bodily refreshment. 
Rest for a while — which shows that the repose was 
not to encourage indolence, or to withdraw them 
from the duties of active life, but to supply new 
strength in order that they might stand to their 
post in life, and fight its battle, which must ever 
tax the strongest nerves, physical or moral. 

"Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, 
- and rest a while." This loving invitation of Jesus is, 
in its spirit, the very invitation which is addressed 
to us to-day in view of this fast of Lent. And in 
this application I shall proceed to make use of it 
as suggesting several points of appropriate instruc- 
tion. In the first place, let us notice that the call 



Rest. 



209 



in the text to rest, was made by Jesus Himself. This 
leads me to observe that it is the voice of Christ, 
which the true disciple will recognize in the summons, 
calling us to the prayers, instructions, self-examin- 
ations, and godly exercises of the season before us. 
We must look from the human agent to the divine 
source of authority, in every summons to greater 
conformity to Christ. Not for form's sake, but for 
Christ's sake, must we all keep Lent, if we keep it 
for our soul's health. If you would- be blessed during 
the forty days' fast, think not of man, but of Jesus; 
look not to your fellow sinners, but to Him before 
\yhose cross we are all alike bowed in fasting, weep- 
ing, and praying. Let the strong argument which 
urges you to the faithful and humble observance of 
the private and public duties of this Season, be with- 
in your hearts, self-sustained, and ever increasing in 
force, as your efforts in prayer and devotion increase 
— the argument that, after all, is the summons to a 
devout observance of this godly season, is the call of 
Jesus, saying, *'Come ye yourselves apart into a 
desert place, and rest a while." But now if the text 
thus applied, reminds us of the true authority for 
keeping this special Season of the year, so, if we 
pass on, word by word, with it, we shall see how it 
serves to suggest other points which, on such a day 
as this, we ought to notice. 

*'Come ye yourselves apart^ It is an invitation 



210 



Rest, 



to abridge even the allowable intercourse of our or- 
dinary life. And if we strive to make a spiritual use 
of Lent, we shall separate ourselves from persons, 
places, and occupations which ordinarily claim a large 
share of our time and thought. If we are in earnest 
we shall do this not by constraint, nor ostenta- 
tiously, neither with murmurings, but graciously; 
rather avoiding debate, or speaking only when we 
may give a kind word, to help some brother like- 
wise to come apart with Jesus. 

But listen again to the text, — ''Come ye your- 
selves apart into a desert place.^'' Our Master said 
not, separate yourselves from those around you, for 
more unreserved enjoyment of even the allowable 
pleasures of life — but separate yourselves by going 
into a place, which to the seeker after worldly pleasure, 
and to the lover of things of this world, is absolutely 
unattractive — ''a desert place." How appropriate is 
the application which we make of this expression, when 
we refer it to the peculiar moral character of Lent. 
The summons of the Lenten Season is a call to self- 
denial and fasting, examination of heart and life, 
confession and prayer, meditation and study of God's 
Word, and almsgiving. What is there in these things 
to attract any mind which is satisfied with itself and 
the present.^ which looks to this life for enjoyment.? 
What is there attractive in the season for any who 
centre their happiness on earth, who forget their 



Rest, 



211 



soul — its Saviour — the eternal world, and the need 
of preparation for judgment and the life everlasting? 

If the ordinary call to prayer, and holy thought, 
and Christian obedience, offend, how shall any attrac- 
tion be discovered in the summons to extraordinary 
acts and exercises of devotion ? If the heart do not 
discern Jesus calling us to keep the fast, if there be 
Tiot a deep spiritual object in keeping the fast — I 
will not dissemble the truth, the Season must be 
a weary one; it is a desert place to which we are 
called. We may speak of the great value of private 
prayer, but the place of private prayer is a desert 
unattractive one to those who do not like to pray. 
We may urge attendance on the public services and 
instructions, but the house of God is a desert, un- 
attractive place to those who care but little for the 
presence and worship of Jesus. 

Let me then honestly say, the call to keep the 
Season is virtually Christ's summons, ''Come ye 
yourselves apart into a desert placeT The attrac- 
tiveness of Lent will be found in its adaptation to 
other purposes than those which allure the earthly 
and sensual. What those purposes are, I shall now 
proceed to set before you, guided as in the previous 
remarks by the words of the text. 

'* Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, 
and restr Spiritual rest, refreshment, strength, new 
vigor and life for body and soul — this is what Lent 



212 



Rest. 



holds out to us as the practical result of its faithful 
observance. 

And is there not something singularly appropriate 
in the word "rest," to indicate the character of our 
Lenten Season, and the spiritual result of a devout 
and godly observance of it. If we take the term 
''rest" in its lower, as well as its higher meaning — 
as indicating rest for the body as well as refreshment 
for the soul — how expressive is this word of the 
tranquillity, repose, and benefit of Lent.- Yesterday, 
there were to be seen the turmoil of business and 
the frantic struggle for gayety, in which body as 
well as soul is exhausted. To-day, and for forty days, 
there is with some, there may be with all who will 
hear the call of Jesus — rest. 

During Lent there is by common consent, an op- 
portunity for a Christian man to worship God, if he 
please, daily, in public as well as in private, without 
being supposed to neglect his business; and there is 
a chance for a Christian woman to decline, if she 
please, those scenes and occupations which, if allow- 
able at other times, are now looked upon as out of 
place. 

And during the cessation of worldly occupations, 
there is hope for spiritual refreshment to all who will 
keep the fast aright; who will take advantage of the 
authorized period of retirement from ordinary worldly 
engagements, to accomplish what it is the intention 



Rest. 



213 



of the Season to accomplish, — the work of deeper 
repentance for sin, of seeking for God's grace to lead 
a holier life, of gaining strength from Christ to live 
henceforth more like Christ. Here is the real inten- 
tion of Lent, here is the point of view from which 
I ask you to contemplate its abstinence, its alms, its 
prayers. 

If you are thinking of your soul, laboring and 
heavy-laden with its sins, of judgment to come; if 
you are thinking of Him Whose merits can alone save 
the soul, Whose blood can alone cleanse from sin, and 
the shadow of Whose cross can alone shelter us in 
that day of wrath — that dreadful Day of Judgment — 
then will this period of spiritual refreshment be grate- 
ful; then will its holy solemnities, and privileges, and 
duties be prized, and earnestly used for spiritual pur- 
poses; then will this period when the world is kept 
at bay, when the tumultuous waves of business, fash- 
ion, and gayety, lawful and unlawful, are arrested by 
the strong voice of authority — be employed in such 
holy exercises as may tend to fortify the soul with 
God's gracious spirit, and fit it for a better and more 
successful struggle with the wear and tear of life, and 
life's temptations, after the appointed season has 
closed. 

And this last remark leads me to the notice of the 
final point suggested by the words of our Master, 
selected for the text: "Come ye yourselves apart 



214 



Rest. 



into a desert place, and rest a whiles The disciples 
of Christ need rest and spiritual refreshment for their 
souls, in order that they may the more perfectly dis- 
charge the work for which He has sent them forth 
into the world. It is not to withdraw us from our 
places in life, not to give us His sanction to retreat 
from our lawful posts and responsibilities in active, 
working life, that the Master calls us to rest, so He 
adds the words which mark the limitation and the 
ultimate effect of the rest: Rest a while'' — a while, 
only for a time, that by this season of grace, we may 
work on with greater power and hopefulness in the 
future. 

In speaking, therefore, of the cessation of many 
lawful occupations and engagements during the Lent- 
en Season, let it be understood that it is not to with- 
draw any one permanently from his true and lawful 
post in life, nor to interfere with the righteous dis- 
charge of any duty, social or secular, which appertains 
to a Christian man or woman's place in society, that 
the summons to keep this Holy Season has gone 
forth; but rather that, by a due and Christian use of 
the holy institutions and discipline provided, we may 
all of us be enabled to make a right judgment as to 
what is our work in life, and to have spiritual self- 
control and power to fulfil it heartily. 

The Gospel of our Divine Master is intended for 
active, working, every-day life. It is not intended tc 



Rest. 



215 



withdraw any one from his lawful post in society, but 
to give him discernment and power to glorify God 
his Saviour, in all things, and whilst in the world, to 
keep himself unspotted from the world. This most 
excellent purpose, the rest and spiritual refreshment 
which are connected with Lent directly subserve. 
And they who, without affectation or censoriousness, 
use the spiritual aids which are now so abundantly 
supplied, criticising none but themselves, and seeking 
only how they may know more of the will and work 
of Him whose call they recognize in the Lenten sum- 
mons, will most assuredly find 'Wesf'\ and in that 
spiritual gift, fit themselves for the efficient discharge 
of their work in life, be the department of work what 
it may. 

In one respect, all departments of life involve the 
same work. The humblest and the highest, the me- 
chanic and the man of titles, the merchant and the 
minister, young and old, man and woman — we have 
all one great work to accomplish: to glorify God in 
the salvation of our souls, and the souls of those 
around us. And this work can only be done through 
the grace of God, sought in the devout and diligent 
use of the ordinary and extraordinary means and 
channels of grace. What a propitious institution is 
this Lenten fast, to those who are striving before God 
and their conscience to use this world without abus- 
ing it ! 



2l6 



Rest. 



How without rest, without some time for recollec- 
tion and meditation, shall we keep steadily before us 
the true work for which God has made, and redeemed, 
and still preserves us ? How shall any of us, espe- 
cially those who are called to fill posts in society 
where they are brought daily and hourly into contact 
with the temptations or the turmoil of life, be able to 
win Christ's commendation hereafter, unless we heed 
now the spirit of His words, and come to Him for the 
rest and refreshment which He alone can give ? 

And now, beloved, I would only ask that the few 
hints given here may find a place in your thoughts 
when you leave the house of prayer, and that they 
may go with you during the entire Season on which 
we this day enter. I would seek for you, and for my- 
self, wisdom to discover, and faith to employ, all the 
means which our Lord allows, whereby we may be 
kept from the perils which encompass us in our passage 
through life, and be furthered in the great work of fit- 
ting ourselves for His final coming to judge us. 

As year after year passes, this Lenten Season will 
become more grateful to us; for to most of us, as year 
after year passes, and we grow older, the very thought 
of rest must become more grateful, and so the time 
for rest, especially spiritual rest, will be more ear- 
nestly embraced. The wearied traveller asks for rest 
— the old man wants rest — the sick — the dying — all, 
in one form or other, appreciate the blessing — whether 



Rest. 



217 



it be rest of body, or rest of soul. Sick or well, pas- 
tor or people, we are tired — we crave rest. 

Come, then, and let our fast be thus regarded. Let 
us use it as a time of rest, to strengthen and refresh 
our souls for better work in Christ's behalf than we 
have ever done; let those whose hearts have borne 
the heavy burden of grief, come to Jesus, and find 
rest. To all, wearied and heavy-laden, whether with 
life's work, or life's sorrows, or life's sins, this Lenten 
fast will bring a blessing suited to- each, if it be used 
in the spirit as well as in the letter; if it be taken as 
Christ's summons to bring us closer to Himself — ■ 
''Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy- 
laden and I will give you rest." 



SERMON XVL 



THE HIGHEST DIGNITY OF OUR HUMANITY. 

EPHESIANS V. I, 2. 

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, 
as Christ also hath loved us.'''' 

" Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear chil- 
dren." The very first thing that strikes us in the 
text, is the word "therefore" ("Be ye therefore"). 
What has the Apostle been speaking of, and as a 
logical conclusion to which he announces the duty 
and the possibility of following God.^ The verse im- 
mediately preceding the text is this: "Be ye kind one 
to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, 
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you," and 
then comes the text, " Be ye therefore followers of 
God, as dear children." 

The precise point, then, in Avhich we are to follow 
God, is in kindness, forgiveness, charity — in one single 
word, love; and so the Apostle adds in the last half 
of the text, "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved 
us." 

We can, then, follow God in love; and in this 
ability our highest dignity as men resides, because 



TJie Highest Dignity of our Humanity. 219 

this allies us perfectly to God, as children to a 
Father. 

But before dwelling on the connection between 
man and God, which this bond of love demonstrates, 
and wherein the highest dignity of our humanity may 
be seen, let us look at some other views of the dignity 
of man which are more popular. We listen, for ex- 
ample, to some who discourse to us of the dignity 
of our humanity, whilst they describe the God-like 
power of intellect, and how, in what it has done, and 
will do, it elevates us above all other orders of crea- 
tion, and allies us to God. Let us not doubt that 
there is truth in this, but it is not the whole truth, it 
is not the most important truth. 

We shall not discover the firmest ground of our 
alliance with God if we seek it in that direction. The 
path of intellect leads us up towards God, but it does 
not reach God; but even intellect is not the highest 
proof that we are so like God, as dear children are 
like their Father, partakers of the same nature. It is 
not to disparage the force or triumph of the intellect- 
ual powers of man that I thus speak, for when one 
living in this last age of the world, looks back over 
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which during 
six thousand years have been accumulated by the 
mind of man, the treasures of thought and of science 
— the wisdom that has penetrated the mysteries of 
nature — the knowledge that has come, at the bidding 



220 The Highest Dignity of our Humanity. 



of intellect, from the heavens above, and the solid 
globe beneath us; when one fairly surveys the tri- 
umphs of that part of man's nature which we describe 
as the intellectual, we may see a proof (not the high- 
est, nevertheless a grand proof) that he is made in the 
image and likeness of God, allied to God as no other 
created being on the earth is allied; — prophet, priest, 
and king of all inferior orders and gradations of God's 
creation. 

And here, let me say in passing, every man should 
know this portion of his mission, and seek to fulfil 
it. He should take a man's part in the exalted intel- 
lectual supremacy which God has given him over the 
other works of His hand, and give voice, as it were, 
to.all the inferior orders of the inanimate creation, in 
rendering praises to the God who made and pre- 
serves them all. The man of intellect should find out 
for himself, and tell his children, how the wisdom, and 
power, and love of God are seen in every department, 
even the very lowest, of His works. The intellectual 
Christian student who appreciates his office as the 
priest of nature to offer up lauds in behalf of all God's 
works, who sees God present, and working, through 
not angelic ministrations only, but through the hea- 
vens, and the waters that be above the heavens, and 
all the powers of the Lord — sun and moon, stars and 
showers, and dews, winds, and fire and heat: — the 
Christian philosopher who recognizes the Divine pur> 



The Highest Dignity of our Humanity. 221 

poses in dews, and frosts, and cold, and ice, and snow; 
in the alternations of night and day, light and dark- 
ness, in lightning and clouds; the real lover of nature 
who looks upon the earth as the Lord's and loves the 
mountains and hills, who has sat like Jesus beside the 
well and asked for water; who has crossed in safety 
the mighty sea, with its floods, and whales, and all 
that move in the waters; — the intellectual man who 
has looked, as Jesus bids him, upon the fowls of the air, 
and learned faith, and whose knowledge of the ways, 
and uses of the beasts, and cattle, passes beyond his 
own selfish luxury; — the man who has studied nature 
in herself, and not in description only, and who has 
recognized the glorious priesthood of our humanity, 
in being the mouth-piece of these lower creations, 
will not misunderstand either the Church's intention, 
or his own high privilege in joining with the children 
of men, with Israel of old, with priests and servants 
of the Lord, with the spirits and souls of the right- 
eous, with all holy and humble men of heart, in say- 
ing, "Benedicite," O all ye works of the Lord, bless 
ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him forever." 

If I do not allow, then, that we ought to find our 
highest dignity in the intellectual part of our nature, 
it is only because after all the powers it has exhibited, 
and all the researches it has made — the wisdom of 
man is but foolishness with God; it is because it is 
not possible that man should, in the fullest meaning, 



222 Tiie Highest Dignity of our Humanity. 



follow God as a child follows a Father, in this way — ■ 
of intellect. The All-wise God sees in the brightest 
intellect, darkness, and He places beside what man 
has done — what man has not done and cannot do — 
in the domain of thought and knowledge. It is not 
power of intellect which makes man able to follow 
God most truly. Satan and his fallen spirits are 
not behind our race in intellectual power, and yet 
their intellectual gifts could not keep them from be- 
coming devils, neither can it now raise them from 
their ruin, and give them power to follow God as dear 
children. 

But, again, we listen to other voices and they 
dwell on natural forces and results, pointing, as in 
proof of the dignity of our manhood, to the enduring" 
monuments of our ph}-5ical strength — great cities 
built, the ocean covered with ships, mountains tun- 
nelled, and the earth belted with metallic rings for 
the transmission alike of mind and merchandise. Let 
no one doubt that there is truth, also, in this, though 
not the whole truth, nor the most important truth. 
There is a God-like power put forth b}' man even iu 
his exhibition of physical might. It is not m}- inten 
tion to depreciate whatever is God-like in material, 
any more than in mental, power; for if man was in- 
deed made in the image and likeness of God, then 
he must in all parts of his mysterious organization 
have signs and tokens of his Divine Original. For 



The Highest Dignity of our Humanity . 223 



even in the very form of man, in that outward frame, 
there is a mysterious relationship with God, by which 
a murderer, who mars that frame, mars God's image 
and hkeness, and therefore may not live. 

There is certainly something God-like in many 
of those monuments which display simple physical 
power, and which, from the building of the tower of 
Babel down to our own day, have marked all ages 
and races of men. I do not envy the traveller who 
on his way from Damascus to the sea-shore passes 
through the ruins of Baalbek, and, standing in the 
presence of the Temple of the Sun, at this Syrian 
Heliopolis, feels nothing but contempt for the idol- 
aters w^ho erected the massive pile; or who, in the 
presence of that " wall of the world," the mighty west 
front of the Cathedral of Strasbourg, or under Michael 
Angelo's mysterious dome of St. Peter's, can think 
of nothing so much as the superstition of the Dark 
Ages. No being that God created upon the earth, 
except man; no being, save one made in body, as 
well as intellect, in the image and likeness of the 
Almighty God, could frame and put together stone 
and timber after that fashion. And yet it is not the 
ground for affirming the highest dignity of human 
nature, that it possesses such physical power; because, 
after all, it is not perfect power. The mightiest work 
of man is not great in the estimation of God. There 
is nothing really almighty in man's most stupendous 



224 ^-^'^ Highest Dignity of our Humanity. 



works of power; and the ruins of the great cities, and 
temples of the old world, the wreck of fleets, the 
evident limit of power to all physical appliances and 
efforts — forbid our speaking of man as able, in the full 
sense of the words, to follow God in this way. 

But now, keeping up the connection of the text 
as. indicated by the particle " therefore," and also the 
exhortation, '^walk in love, as Christ also hath loved 
us," and recollecting that the Apostle is speaking of 
kindness, forgiveness, tender-heartedness, of love in 
all its generous and genial developments, let us see 
whether in regard to the exercise of love, we may 
not find that most real relationship with God which 
gives to our nature its highest dignity. 

If the acts of intellect or physical power be im- 
perfect, the acts of love are perfect. A loving word, 
or thought, or deed, wants nothing to complete it: 
it does its blessed work, and does it fully, both to him 
who gives and to him who receives it. The loving 
man is, in the full sense of the term, a follower of 
God, even as a child of a father. The Spirit of God 
alone imparts this divine attribute, and thus repro- 
duces the life of God in the soul of man. Love is 
essentially the same wherever it is found in God, in 
the holy angels, in man. That forgiving, forbearing, 
long-suffering temper which may be seen in the 
humblest, the least honored, the least learned of 
our race, allies us to God, Whose nature is love. By 



The Highest Dignity of our Humanity. 225 



this we are known to be sons of God; and in the 
exercise of Christian love, Ave follow God as dear 
children. The highest dignity of our human nature, 
therefore, consists in being able to love, and so to 
be like God, so to be partakers of the divine nature, 
which is Love. There is no limitation here as in the 
particulars of intellectual and physical power; there 
have been no bounds placed by God Himself, and 
there are none in the moral necessities of the case. 
We cannot love too much — for in proportion as we 
love, we follow God more closely, and exhibit more 
perfectly our real relationship to our Heavenly Father. 

The part of our human nature which is the seat 
of love is the spiritual, as distinguished from the in- 
tellectual, and the corporeal; and in that resides our 
highest conception of the image and likeness of God 
in which man was made. Therefore, to be kind, 
forgiving, tender-hearted, and forbearing, long-suffer- 
ing and charitable, is to follow God as dear children 
— is to show the existence of a bond which connects 
us with our Father in Heaven. He, therefore, who 
practically makes the life of his religion to consist 
in evangelical love, demonstrates the highest dignity 
of his manhood; he shows in the miost emphatic way 
that he is able to follow God, that the gulf that sep- 
arates the created from the uncreated is bridged over 
by this one plank. Oh, if we were required to demon- 
strate our connection with God by mighty works of 



226 TJie Highest Dignity of our Humanity. 

material power, or by splendid efforts of genius and 
intellect, how 'few could succeed ! 

Who can follow God the Almighty, All-wise, in 
these attributes of His nature ? When the most 
learned of the earth are so ignorant in His sight, 
when the most mighty are so feeble, how shall any 
of us, with nothing powerful in material or mental 
resources, even hope to follow great men — and how 
much less the great God ? 

But is it asked. Is not this just as true as it re- 
gards love ? Are not the most loving deeds, of the 
most spiritual and Christian heart, of no account in 
the sight of God, who is Love ? I answer. No. Every 
deed of love is truly a deed of God Himself, working 
in and through us by His Holy Spirit. No man can 
love God, or his neighbor, but by the Spirit of God. 
The natural bias of our spirits, under the influence 
of Satan, is to selfishness, which is the very antipodes 
and antagonist of love. If love be the term whereby 
to express the nature of God — self is the term where- 
by to express the nature of the devil. If love allies 
us to God, selfishness allies us to Satan. 

The sin of the fall of man, and that which perpet- 
uates itself in every man, is the substitution of self 
for love, in all the details of duty; whether to the 
Supreme Being above, or to our equals around us. 
To lead a life of love in any degree, therefore, is in 
that degree to lead the life of God; — the power comes 



The Highest Dignity of our Humanity, 227 

from God; it is the divine nature working in us, ele- 
vating us, and therefore exhibiting man's true dignity. 

To all men, therefore, of all orders and degrees — to 
poor and rich, servants and masters, to laboring men 
and gentle folk, to the unlearned and to scholars — 
the command goes forth, '*Be ye followers of God, 
as dear children." You can follow God, as partakers 
of the divine nature which is Love. You can follow 
God in this most God-like attribute, as dear children. 

Yes, my brother, no matter how poor, how lowly, 
your rank and prospects in life may be, bethink your- 
self of the true dignity of that manhood which you 
bear, and of your alliance with God, and remember 
that by the practice of Christian love, you may even 
follow God, and demonstrate your relationship to 
Him. Every loving thought, every loving word, 
every loving deed, is truly divine; it catches the eye, 
and wins the benediction of our Father in Heaven. 

You may not be very learned, nor able to do 
mighty works by your active energy; your sphere of 
life may be circumscribed; but there is no limit to the 
God-like power you may exert, if you will follow God 
in the exercise of all the offices of Charity. You may 
not be able to follow the great and wise of the earth 
in making the world the richer for your being in it; 
but you may be able to follow God, and by love, ac- 
tive love, make the world the better; for each good 
deed shines like a light in this naughty world, and 



228 The Highest Dignity of our Humanity. 



draws down on it the benediction of God Him 
self. Let your daily life, then, be one of love: you 
may not be rich in money, but be rich in love. You 
may not be able to master the problems of science, 
but }'0u can forgive the erring — you can forbear re- 
turning evil to those Avho wrong you; you can feed 
the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, console 
the afflicted, comfort the dying, and bury the dead. 
You may not be able to prove the dignity of }-our 
humanity by its alliance by blood with the honorable 
.or the refined of the world, but you can prove its true 
dignity in its alliance by love with God Himself. You 
may not follow God in His attributes of power and 
wisdom but you can follow Him in that which is His 
essential attribute — Charity. God in Christ is the 
embodiment of love. The life of Jesus is the life of 
God; let that life then be a daily study. Let the 
Spirit of God be daily sought for by prayer, by the 
study of His Word, by the devout reception of the 
Sacraments, and other means of grace to enable us 
to lead the life of Christ. 

This we may do, this we must do; for — oh, mar- 
vellous words! — the inspired command is still on rec- 
ord as the Christian's law — Be ye followers of God, 
as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath 
loved us." 



SERMON XVII. 



{First Sunday in Lent.) 
THE TEMPTATION. 

ST. MATT. IV. I, 2. 

" Then was Jesits led up of the Spirit into the tvilderness to be tej7ipted 
of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was 
afterward a7i hungered.'''' 

The temptation of Christ sets before us, in the 
first place, the fact that the hfe of the true Christian 
disciple is "one of temptation and resistance. It is of 
importance to notice the period at which the tempta- 
tion took place. Christ had just submitted to fulfil 
all righteousness, by receiving baptism at the hands 
of His fore-runner, St. John, Avhen He encountered the 
fierce satanic attack to which our text alludes. There 
may be other thoughts which a study of this circum- 
tance may develop, but that which I here offer you 
is contained in the fact that Christian discipleship in- 
volves a life of struggle against temptation; for what 
is substantially our spiritual life, but to feel that from 
the moment of our Baptism, this world is a spiritual 
wilderness, in which temptations will meet us, against 
which, to the end of our natural life, we are to strug- 
gle } And what is the hope of the Christian disciple, 



230 



The Temptation. 



who is thus living and struggling, but the anticipated 
glories of that moment, when Christ shall crown his 
struggle with everlasting benediction, and triumph ? 
The true theory of the Christian life is here set forth, 
and, for various reasons, it is important that we should 
explicitly understand it. They greatly mistake the 
entire subject of the Christian life, who think or speak 
as if all were done, when by the operation of the Holy 
Ghost, they are made members of Christ, the children 
of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. 
For not more certainly did our Master find Himself 
in contact with Satan as soon as He had left the 
waters of Jordan, and entered upon the wilderness, 
than we, if we have been truly instructed, shall rec- 
ognize that we, with Christ, must be prepared for the 
assault of Satan from the beginning to the end of our 
spiritual career. Those were words of spiritual mys- 
tery, and not of human rhetoric — words for all time, 
and not for Apostolic days only, which our Master 
spake, saying — Whosoever taketh not up his cross 
and foUoweth after Me, cannot be My disciple." 

But looking again at the instructive history which 
we are considering, let us ponder the precise nature of 
the temptation which assailed our Master, and which 
will disclose to us the general classes of evil to which 
the Christian disciple is liable. In Satan's suggestion 
that our Master should satisfy hunger, we have that 
appeal to appetite which is technically known as the 



The Temptation. 



231 



''^ lust of the flesh." In his presentation of the glories 
of the world as an inducement to worship him, we 
have that appeal to the senses, which is also known 
as "the lust of the eyes"; and in his final attempt to 
convert principle into passion, and to make the just 
object of our Master's mission an occasion of personal 
pride, by securing the people's acknowledgment of 
His Messiahship at the expense of presumption, we 
have the most subtle form of evil, which appeals to 
the pride of life." To this classification may we 
properly reduce the several temptations which befel 
our Master in the wilderness; and it will help us ma- 
terially in our spiritual warfare, if we be forewarned 
against the occasions which may betray us into sin 
through the same avenues. If in our spiritual expe- 
rience, we accustom ourselves to look upon each 
temptation as separate in its essential nature from 
every other temptation, we shall be greatly enfeebled 
in our resistance; for amid the multitudes of details, 
we shall be driven almost to despair, and shall find 
resistance a task as hopeless as his, who instead of 
stopping the fountain, should seek to dry up the in- 
numerable rivulets which surrounded him. If an intel- 
ligent consideration of the general classes of sin to 
which the Christian disciple is liable, be omitted, the 
evil will also appear in the failure to use the appro- 
priate means of resisting sin; there will be that uncer- 
tainty as to the mode of meeting the enemy, and that 



232 



The Temptation. 



division of spiritual force, which are the precursors of 
defeat. Now, each of these temptations of Satan in 
the wilderness, is, as I have already intimated, a spe- 
cimen of a class, and if we guard ourselves against 
appeals to the lower appetites, to the senses, and to 
the intellectual, or moral ambition of our life, we shall 
close the great avenues by which the tempter makes 
his assaults upon us. In the method which our Mas- 
ter adopted we are taught our duty as His disciples. 
Simple reliance on God's Word, unfaltering trust in 
His promises, and resistance, by the power of our 
sanctified wills, to the solicitations of a wicked, but 
jiot omnipotent spirit. 

Remember that though Satan can tempt, he can- 
not compel us to sin; and as there is no sin in mere 
temptation of itself, and, as no man need yield, Satan 
has not been allowed to ruin God's moral creation. 
All are not ruined because all are tempted. The first 
Adam chose to listen to the tempter; and he, a man 
like ourselves, brought ruin upon himself and the race. 
But the second Adam, though tempted resisted — did 
not listen to the tempter — and so restored Paradise, 
and opened the kingdom of God (the real Eden) to all 
believers. Therefore, man, aided by the Spirit of God, 
is more than a match for Satan, and the Christian 
may enter on his life-long struggle without overmuch 
apprehension. So taught of Christ, the disciple may 
fulfil, trembling, yet in hope, the inspired injunction 



The Temptation. 



233 



*■ Work out your own salvation with fear and trem- 
bling, for it is God that worketh in you." We can- 
not impress upon our hearts and judgments too 
strongly, the necessity of un-argumentative faith in 
God's revealed Word, as the immovable ground of 
our resistance to temptation. Re-read the history of 
Christ's temptation, and see how He, who Himself 
was the Word of God, resists the subtle enemy with 
*'It is written." O Christian disciple, O man in ear- 
nest for the things of another life, cling to the simple 
Word of God, as the basis of your hope, in every 
assault of Satan. 

Faith alone can save us in that assault in which 
every sense is arrayed against us, and every power 
of body, and mind too, is used to pervert and ensnare 
us. Faith in what God says, a simple clinging to 
that which is zvritten, against that which is seen, can 
alone help us when appetite and passion, in the most 
attractive forms, clamor for indulgence, and both 
natural lust, and even the natural understanding, 
urge us to yield. Let us meet the clamorous solici- 
tations of the evil one with, '"'It is written^' and let 
us meet by the same weapon the secret whisper 
which seems so harmless, forasmuch as it comes out 
of the very instincts of our nature: let us meet the 
assaults of Satan, whether from without or within, 
by childlike faith in the simple Word of God. 

But, I would like you to remark how the tempter, 



234 



The Temptation. 



taking as it were a suggestion from Christ's reply, 
falls to quoting Scripture. Even Satan says, It is 
written'' ; and mark how the All-wise One meets the 
enemy of souls, ''It is ivritten again '' Oh, blessed 
be His holy name for putting us on our guard, and 
teaching us that there is a subtle temptation whereby 
the perversion of Holy Scripture itself is made the 
occasion of sin. "It is written again" is the divine 
answer to those temptations which come from a one- 
sided quotation of God's Word; which seek to have us 
rest content with a portion only of God's revelation, 
which would make us receive and act upon only a part 
of the truth. It is possible for even Satan to say, "It 
is written," but Christ and His disciples can say, "It 
is written again." 

Let us look now upon Christ's triumph, and in 
the discomfiture of Satan, let us be encouraged to 
struggle on hopefully, with the certainty of ulti- 
mate victory. There are those who say that as 
Christ was God Incarnate, it is not possible that 
His triumph over Satan can be any guarantee of 
success to us, who are sinners without share in that 
mysterious nature which He possessed. This objec- 
tion has force for those who do not accustom them- 
selves to dwell upon the reality of the fact that God 
became Man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth; or 
who forget the equally mysterious fact, that by virtue 
of the divine promises and provisions of the Gospel, 



The Temptation. 



235 



and by the presence and work of the Holy Ghost, 
we may become, as St. Peter says, " partakers of the 
divine nature"; or as St. Paul says, "members of His 
body, of His flesh, and of His bones." It was by the 
might of the Holy Ghost, and the use of Holy Script- 
ure, that our ^Master resisted Satan in His temptation: 
it does not appear that any special interposition of 
His divine personality was manifested, by which 
Satan was resisted. Our Master as Man, fortified 
with the Holy Spirit — that Spirit which He will com- 
municate to those who believe and become one with 
Him — met and conquered Satan. 

Unless there is a recognition of this truth, then 
indeed, the objection is valid; and we who have not 
the divine nature to help us, cannot be encouraged 
in our daily struggle, by a triumph due to the God- 
head of our adorable Master. 

But the power of grace which you, beloved, can 
bring into this controversy with evil, is greater than 
that which your spiritual adversary arrays against 
you. If the Christian life were to be led with no 
other help than that which flows from the unaided 
exercise of the faculties of our fallen, but redeemed 
nature, it were a hopeless task. But in the beneficent 
scheme of the Gospel, provision has been made, 
whereby men may become, by the new birth of water 
and the Spirit, and by faith in Jesus, sons of God. 
The appeal can be justly made, "Work out your own 



236 



The Temptation. 



salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that 
worketh in you." And indeed, unless we recognize 
the fact, that by virtue of the Incarnation, through 
the remedial provisions of the Gospel, man has power 
to resist, and overcome Satan, it is in vain to urge 
the Christian disciple to take courage from Christ's 
victory over Satan, in the wilderness. 

Settle clearly, then, in your mind, that the life of 
each true Christian, if fairly led, involves ceaseless 
struggle against temptation; be warned against the 
chief avenues by which Satan assaults you — the lust 
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — ■ 
and be encouraged to resist in hope of success, by the 
presence and promised power of the Holy Ghost, 
given to us in the use of those spiritual agencies, 
which the Gospel and the Church provide for us. 

And here let me ask you to pause, and in view of 
the suggestive topics which the text has brought be- 
fore us, let us inquire. What should be the practical 
bearing of this subject on every Christian life } I 
desire to impress upon you all, that it is hopefulness; 
in view of the inevitable temptations which must 
assail us in this life. Hopefulness, I say — and it is 
said to all: to the sinner, if he cares to be freed from 
his deadly enemy; hopefulness to the Christian, who 
in spite of all his efforts seems to be nearly disheart- 
ened. The temptations of life which try us only 
to test, and strengthen virtue, are no curse. Nay, 



The Temptation, 



237 



Blessed, is the man that endureth " them— that is, 
that not only suffers them, but makes them, as he 
may and should, incentives to patience, faith, and 
higher moral power. 

Temptation is not, in itself, sin to you, my brother, 
who may fear that you have no love of God in you 
because you are tempted to worship Satan. Did you 
not hear, in this day's Gospel, how that wicked spirit 
said to Jesus, " All these things will I give Thee, if 
Thou wilt fall down and worship me." He may say 
it to you, as he did to your Elder Brother, the Son 
of God; but that temptation is no sin on your con- 
science, if you resist the tempter, as did your Elder 
Brother, by the power of the Word of God, and His 
Holy Spirit. 

Be hopeful then, brother man, brother Christian, 
in your fight with Satan. That battle is full of 
blessing for you; it cannot result against you, unless 
you yourself choose to throw away the victory. Satan 
is a conquered foe: strong, vigilant, revengeful, indom- 
itable in desire — yet conquered. If you will take for 
your rule the Word and Will of God, and use the 
grace of God's Spirit as your power, the temptation, 
though it appeal to the lust of the flesh, the lust of 
the eye, or the pride of life, shall not harm you. 
Being tempted, stand firm, by the Spirit of God ever 
ready to strengthen you; yea, stand under the blows 
of Satan, like a beaten anvil; and" show the God-like 



238 The Temptation. 

power that is in you, through the work and love of 
your Deliverer. 

Oh beloved, fight on more hopefully than ever, 
knowing that you may, and can succeed and win the 
crown of life; for to such temptations, or trials, the 
words of St. James apply — Blessed is the man that 
endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall 
receive the crown of life which the Lord hath prom- 
ised to them that love Him." 



SERMON XVIII. 

{Good Friday.) 

CHRIST'S CRUCIFIXION; THE NATURE OF THE VICTIM, 
AND THE REASON OF HIS SUFFERING. 

ST. MATTHEW XXVII. 50. 

" Jesus, when He had cried again with 'a loud voice, yielded up the 
ghost.''^ 

We have assembled in the house of God to-day, 
in obedience to the Church's requisition, to engage 
in the deepest penitential services of the w^hole Chris- 
tian year. There is no fast-day in our calendar like 
this; no humiliation so perfect as that wherewith we 
are taught this day to humble ourselves before God; 
no sorrow more absorbing than that wherewith the 
Bride of Christ would have us penetrated, when, tak- 
ing us by the hand, she leads us to the Mount of Cal- 
vary, and placing us beneath the cross of her dear 
Lord, points us to the bleeding Victim and says, 
, "Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sin 
of the world." We keep the fast this day in common 
with our brothers of every quarter of the globe; we 
utter our solemn Litany in unison with nineteen-twen- 
tieths of Christendom; we realize by faith the cruci- 
fixion of Jesus, as it has been realized by the glorious 



240 



Christ's Crucifixion. 



company of the Apostles, by the noble army of Mar- 
tyrs, and as it is now commemorated by the Holy 
Church throughout all the world. Let me not with- 
draw your thoughts from that holy place where the 
Saviour of the world hangs crucified. Let us not 
cease to look upon Him who hangs with outstretched 
arms, as if in death as all along in life, He would still 
embrace within His loving grasp, and draw closer to 
His loving heart, the whole world. Let us, with all 
the powers of our being, Behold the Lamb of God, 
Who taketh away the sin of the world." 

Let us on this great fast-day, nor on it only, but 
on all days, even unto the end of life, know nothing 
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

In the few thoughts I have to offer, I would seek to 
aid the effect of the solemn services in which we have 
been engaged, and hope that by God's blessing our 
meditations may aid you in realizing WJio it is that 
submits to insults and death, the account whereof you 
have heard this morning; and why it is that Jesus 
should have humbled Himself to such inconceivable 
humiliation. 

I pray you, brethren, come with me, and as the 
day's record brings before us the dying Victim's last 
struggle, and as now the scene of blood is closed; let 
us seek to know Who this is, Who thus after a day 
of agony cries with a loud voice and yields up the 
Ghost } 



Chrisfs Crucifixion. 



241 



If He be a criminal, the most degraded and guilty 
of all that tenanted Jerusalem's prisons, we must con- 
fess that He has atoned for His guilt to the uttermost. 
If He has violated fealty to His country, if He has 
wronged the widow, despised the fatherless, or 
turned from the poor, we must confess that He has 
fully paid the penalty of such transgression in the 
torments of this day. 

In deep solicitude then we ask, Who is He } Is He 
the criminal that might have been supposed ? Nay, 
He is no transgressor against His country. His fellow- 
men, or His God. 

Again, then, we ask. Who is this Who cries with a 
loud voice, and gives up the Ghost ^ Has He done 
no wrong } Nay, not one of all that multitude that 
amid mockery and scourging nailed Him to the cross 
can convict Him of sin. 

The most zealous priest cannot show that He has 
been wanting in one single point of faith; the acutest 
scribe cannot prove that He has violated one single 
point of law. 

Again,- then, we ask. Who is this Whom they 
crucify } There are witnesses enough to answer, and 
they shall speak for themselves. There is the man 
who betrayed Him, let him answer. Judas says, "I 
have betrayed the innocent blood." The Roman 
Governor, who condemned Him, let him answer. 
Pilate says, '*I find no fault in this Man." 



242 



Christ's Crucifixion. 



The suffering Victim then is an innocent Man. 
But, oh, we have not yet had the full answer to our 
question ! He is innocent — but is- He no more than 

Man ? 

There stand a multitude who once were suffering- 

o 

under disease, and bodily tortures baffling the skill of 
man, who have been restored to health and comfort 
by a touch, a word, a look of that innocent sufferer. 
There is one just raised from the tomb where he had 
lain dead four days. Let Lazarus say if that Cruci- 
fied One is not gifted with more than human power ! 
There is the widow of Nain, with her only son in full 
health beside her, let them answer. There is the 
Syrophenician mother; and the man born blind; the 
daughter of Jairus; and he of the withered hand — let 
them answer ! There are those who v/ere at Cana 
when, Avithout a word, by His volition, He changed the 
water into wine. And there are those who were on 
Gennesaret, when with a word He calmed the tempes- 
tuous sea, and bridled the fury of the storm. There 
are those who saw His benediction multiply five loaves 
until they satisfied a hungry multitude of five thou- 
sand men. Let these say Who this is Who dies upon 
the cross. 

With one accord must their answer be, now as be- 
fore, ''This is of a truth that Prophet that should 
come into the world." An innocent Man, and a 
Prophet, is He Whom they crucify; but still our ques- 



Chrisfs Crucifixion. 



243 



tion is not fully answered. Once again we ask, Is He 
no more than a Prophet ? There stands the Roman 
Captain who watched the last sigh of the dying Vic- 
tim, ask him. The Centurion answers, Truly this 
Man was the Son of God." But we rest not this truth 
upon the Roman's declaration. There comes an an- 
swer to us from the heavens above, from the earth be- 
neath our feet, from the temple of God among men, 
and from the unseen world of spirits. There is a token 
from Heaven forcible to the soul in the sudden quench- 
ing of the sun at noonday; there comes an answer to 
the question, from the temple, as its sacred veil is rent 
in twain from the top to the bottom. The rending 
rocks, and the quaking of the solid globe, answer for 
the earth; the bursting grave speaks for the world of 
spirits in the persons of the risen saints — and Heaven, 
and Earth, and Paradise, confirm what human lips de- 
clare, ''Truly this Man Whom they crucify is the Son 
of God." 

Our question is answered now. We have had an 
answer from testimony which cannot be impeached. 
The crucified Victim is an innocent Man; He is that 
Prophet that should come into the world; He is the 
Son of God. 

Oh, take this answer now, and knowing Who it is 
Who suffers, recount in your memory what He has en- 
dured this day. If He were a criminal, and you would 
be moved to compassion at these insults and inflic- 



244 



Christ's Crucifixion. 



tions, what heart can remain untouched, knowing that 
He Whose brow is pierced with a crown of thorns, is 
the One Who from eternity has worn the crown of 
Heaven ? Who can remain untouched when he real- 
izes that the hand into which is thrust the mocking 
reed, will grasp in the last great day the sceptre that 
controls the eternal destiny of the universe ? Who 
can remain unmoved, when he knows that the Being 
before Whom the rabble bow in mockery, and Whom 
they salute in contemptuous tones as king, is the One 
in Whose presence angels veil their faces, and at 
Whose feet the white-robed host of Heaven cast their 
golden crowns ? 

Who can contemplate without awe and terror, the 
driving of the nails, the tension of the limbs, the 
agonizing cry, the rending of the soul and body — and 
know that in mysterious and indivisible union with 
that Sufferer, exists the uncreated essence of the God- 
head ? 

This is our faith — that He Who on this day they 
crucified, is not only an innocent Man, and Prophet; 
but God Incarnate — the everlasting Son of the Father, 
the mysterious Son of the Virgin, in Whose person 
the human and divine natures exist — Whom we con- 
fess to be our Brother, with bone of our bone, and 
flesh of our flesh; yet Whom we worship with unre- 
served adoration, as the Eternal and Almighty God. 

We have asked and answered the question. Who 



Christ's Crucifixion. 



245 



this is Whom they crucified. We have yet to ask and 
answer wJiy it is that such a Being, innocent, as Man 
— omnipotent, as God, should have humbled Himself 
to such unparalleled and inconceivable humiliation. 

The very first word of our text will teach us. 
" Jesus when He had cried with a loud voice, yielded 
up the Ghost." 

Jesus, that is by interpretation, Saviour. The ag- 
ony of the Garden of Gethsemane, and the cross, can- 
not be comprehended without a knowledge of the sin 
of the Garden of Eden: nor the sufferings of the sec- 
ond Adam, without a knowledge of the sin of the first 
Adam. 

If then you would know why it is that we com- 
memorate to-day such a scene of agony, you must 
realize the bitterness of the curse under which human 
nature has suffered from sin. As this earth and man 
first came from the Creator's hand all was good, holy, 
sinless. The inanimate creation was blessed; and the 
bounteous earth yielded its fruit without **the sweat 
of the brow." The moral creation, man, stood as the 
vicegerent of God, with body incapable of disease, 
with mind unclouded, with intellect unfettered, with 
heart uninflamed and with will undistorted. 

A paradise was earth, the image of God was 
man, and life was the beauteous aisle in God's great 
temple, along which in perfect peace the devout 
worshipper should walk until he stood before the 



246 



Christ's Crucifixion. 



majestic altar, and in the unveiled presence of his 
Creator. Such was God's work; such this world 
around us; such the nature whereof we all partake, 
in its original estate. What this world became, and 
how this nature of ours changed in consequence of 
sin, the world we now live in may demonstrate, and 
each one's own heart and experience may tell. Sin, 
the violation of God's law, through the agency of 
the spirit of evil, and through the instrumentality of 
our first parents, has defiled and deformed the once 
perfect creation of God. The earth itself felt the 
effect of sin; and now the barren field, the luxuriant 
thorn and thistle, the toiling husbandman, and bread 
won for our children by the sweat of the brow, show 
what a curse has fallen on nature. The image of 
God was defaced in the soul of man: and the powers 
and faculties which once like a fair temple were reared 
in harmonious proportions, have been shaken to their 
foundations, and strew with their broken columns 
the desolate, sin-stricken heart. A mind clouded 
with error, a heart flaming with passion, a will per- 
verse to oppose God, an understanding apt for evil, 
blinded to good, have taken the place of the once 
perfect soul. No longer the vicegerent of God, with 
praises on His tongue, and with soul devoted to 
His worship, man became the slave of Satan. No 
longer a paradise, earth became a dreary wilderness, 
and the life of man on earth, a weary, painful pil- 



Christ's Crucifixion. 



247 



grimage. Now if you would realize why God Incar- 
nate dies in agony, and gives up the ghost on the 
cross, gather around that cross, with your minds 
filled with the curse that sin hath brought upon us 
and the world, and know that He who dies is Jesus — 
the Saviour of our world, in bodies and souls, from 
the full, fearful, eternal ruin of the curse. The in- 
nocent suffers for the guilty, that God may be just, 
and yet the justifier of all that believe in Jesus. 
The fearful cry of ''Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabacthani," 
proclaims the eternal removal of God's favor from 
our suffering souls, had not Jesus died. The loud 
voice wherein once again He cried, when He yielded 
up the Ghost, tells of the wail of despair that should 
have ascended forever, had not Jesus died. He who 
suffers is ''Jesus,'' which is by interpretation, ''Sa- 
viour" — my Saviour. The Son of God thus suffers, 
and dies, that He might open Heaven to a ruined 
race; that salvation might be rendered possible to 
every one who will repent of his sins and receive 
the crucified Jesus, as his Prophet, Priest, and King. 

Beloved, I leave this subject with you, for the 
action of your own hearts. I pray you, who have 
not made that Saviour yours by faith, do not defer 
this inestimable benefit. If you value Heaven, if 
you fear hell, do not defer the humbling of your- 
selves by a true repentance and a lively faith, at 
the foot of that cross, on which hangs the only Being 



248 



Chrisfs Crucifixion. 



Who can secure for you the felicities of the one, or 
save you from the miseries of the other. The event 
commemorated to-day, whilst it should penetrate 
our souls with the guilt of sin, should win us to re- 
pentance, and amendment of life. The cross of 
Christ, with the immolated Victim, is the saddest, 
and yet the most blessed object on which our eyes 
and hearts can rest. If it tell how fearful a thing 
it is to si7i, it also declares that atonement has 
already been made, and a way of escape offered to 
all who will repent and believe in Jesus. 

And whilst our dear Lord hangs upon the cross 
despised and insulted by His murderers, let us be 
ready to "Remember" Him in His own appointed 
Sacraments, and in our whole lives, to show that 
in the midst of His rejection, and crucifixion, we 
confess Him to be our God and Saviour. 



SERMON XIX. 



CHRIST'S PEACE, AND THE VISION OF CHRIST 
CRUCIFIED. 

ST. JOHN XX. 19, AND PART OF 20th VERSE. 

" Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when 
the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the yews, 
came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them. Peace be tmto you. 
And when He had so said He showed unto them His haftds and His 
side.^^ 

The question which instinctively rises to our lips 
is, Why did Jesus emphatically direct His disciples 
to the sight of His wounded hands and side, whilst 
the cheering words, ''Peace be unto you," were sound- 
ing in their ears } I answer, there is a lesson taught 
us in the connection between our dear Lord's words 
and actions on this occasion. A lesson which is the 
one all-important lesson to be learned by every one, 
who at any time, and under any circumstances, shall 
seek for true, permanent, perfect peace; viz., that 
Christ's blessing of peace is indissolubly connected 
with the vision of Christ crucified. 

In that upper room, where in the beginning of the 
Church's history, a few frightened disciples were as- 
sembled, with doors shut for fear of the Jews, there 
was enunciated in simple yet mysterious word and 



250 



Christ's Peace. 



act the glorious Gospel, which it is the object of the 
Word and the Church to declare to all the world, 
and to the end'of time. That Gospel is, ''Peace on 
earth," and the method of that Gospel by which it 
discloses the way to secure peace, is by presenting 
Christ crucified. In that upper room was heard and 
seen, in the words and actions of the Saviour, an 
epitome of all that Jesus intended to do for the re- 
deemed sons of men. And has not that peace been 
found always, everywhere, and by all men, in con- 
nection with the sight and love of His work upon the 
cross 

In that upper room, in the very outset of the evan- 
gelical dispensation, was said and done by our Lord 
Himself, what has been said and done — if anything 
worthy has been done or said — by His ministers from 
that day forth to this hour. What are all the preach- 
ing and ministrations of Christ's ambassadors at this 
day, but a prolongation to all who hear of the good 
words, '' Peace be unto you " } 

Again, what is the unalterable way of peace which 
the institutions and agencies of Christ's body are in- 
tended to disclose, but a simple exhibition of Christ 
crucified ? The word of power which Christ's disci- 
ples, in and out of the ministry, are permitted to 
speak, is just Christ's own Word, '' Peace be unto 
you." The work of power which all effective minis- 
trations, whether at the font or at the altar of God. 



Christ's Peace. 



251 



are permitted to work, is just that which Christ 
wrought when He disclosed His atoning love on the 
cross, in the wounds of His hands ahd side. 

If any disciple, be he ordained or not, go out into 
the world, and in Christ's name call upon his fellow- 
men to listen, he will not arrest attention, he ought 
not to arrest attention, unless the substance of his 
message be, Peace be unto you." This is truly a 
Gospel to the restless, sin-disturbed souls of men; 
this is worth being born into the world to utter; this 
is indeed a Gospel which a man may preach and 
receive. 

Oh brother, made in God's image, yet suffering 
from the curse of sin, you are redeemed by the death 
and resurrection of the Incarnate Son of God, and His 
loving salutation to you is, ''Peace be unto you." 
These words were spoken in an upper room, but they 
have gone forth until this wide world is not large 
enough to hold them. They were spoken to a few 
disciples, but the Gospel was designed to be heard 
by every creature. 

But look again at the text, and let us meditate 
still further on the lesson taught. See, the Master 
raises His hand — see. He shows to His diciples His 
hands and His side; yes, whilst their ears and hearts 
are filled with the gracious words, '' Peace be unto 
you " — their eyes and their hearts are filled with the 
sight of Christ crucified. It is Jesus Who was crucified 



252 



Christ's Peace. 



Who speaks these words of comfort and power. The 
connection between His benediction and the sight 
of His cross was perfect. Never from that hour could 
His followers dissever them; never could they think 
of the one, without recollecting the other; never could 
their souls rejoice at the words, without their hearts 
trembling at the thought of those great wounds which 
marred His hands and His side. 

And as I have said that the good news of peace 
was not to be limited to the place, time, and persons 
mentioned in the text, so say I now, that the vision 
of Christ crucified, which was originally connected 
with the good news, can never be severed from it. 
As they who heard the words saw the sight of the 
wounds, so it is true now, so will it be true forever, 
that they who truly hear the Gospel must see this 
vision. There are no words of peace when there is 
no sight of Christ's hands and side. You cannot dis- 
sever the two. If you will take the one you must 
take the other, or the lesson of the text is lost. 

If your heart leaps up at the unspeakable comfort 
which is embodied in the Saviour's loving salutation, 
remember it was a salutation begun in words, but 
finished in action, and that you cannot take it in 
fully unless you use eyes as well as ears, for as He 
said, Peace be unto you," He showed them His 
hands and His side. Christ's blessing of peace is 
therefore indissolubly connected with the vision of 



Christ's Peace, 



253 



Christ crucified. And as the good news was to be 
preached to every creature, so is the acceptance of 
it to be associated in every creature who hears it, 
with the sight of the One perfect, all-sufficient sac- 
rifice of the cross. 

As all words spoken in Christ's name — be they in 
books, in sermons, or in prayers — which do not in 
substance declare " Peace," are not worthy to be 
listened to; so all works — be they works corporal 
or spiritual, external or inward, sacramental or ec- 
clesiastical — which do not in substance and in effect 
show Christ's hands and side as the way of peace, 
are not worthy to be adopted. What we need is 
peace; what we ask is the way of peace. A man 
disturbed in every portion of his nature by the orig- 
inal sin needs peace. He needs not eloquence, nor 
argument, nor science, nor learning, but peace; a 
peace which shall give him back that original gift 
which he reads of in Eden, and by which, with a 
child's loving freedom, man talked with God, but 
which has been lost to him. What a man wants 
who feels a mysterious, hateful, second self strug- 
gling against his first self, clouding his perceptions 
of what is right and wrong, enfeebling his will, and 
making unrest in his affections, so that he is com- 
pelled to cry for deliverance from the body of death; 
what such a man wants is not civilization, culture, 
progress, but peace — a peace which shall give light 



254 Chrisfs Peace. 

to his judgment, power to his will, purity to his heart, 
and so, rest and comfort to his entire moral nature. 

What the world, if by that one word we may 
sum up all our humanity, what the heart of the 
world as cursed by sin wants, is peace : it will be 
satisfied with nothing else; it never has been, and 
is not at this hour, satisfied with anything else, al- 
though it may not know at times why it cries out 
in agony; or may not accept our term as expressing 
its want. 

The hope of the world is centred in Christ, but 
it is Christ crucified; all peace, whether it be the 
peace of pardon or of holiness, of patience or of 
hope, or love — all peace is centred in the word of 
Jesus; but it is the word of Jesus whos'e hands, and 
feet, and side, bear the marks of the cross. 

Do I speak, then, to any one who believes in only 
the first of the thoughts which I have endeavored 
to evolve from the suggestive record of the text } 
Let me not lose his attention, in the affectionate ap- 
peal which I now make. My brother, if you believe 
in only one of these truths, that is to say, if you 
are ready to admit that the great want of your soul 
is peace, but not ready to receive the farther truth 
that peace is identified with the sight of Christ cru- 
cified, with faith in Him, and like Him with cruci- 
fixion to sin, look again, I pray you, at the scene 
which our text describes. 



Chrisfs Peace. 



255 



What if some of those disciples had gladly heard 
the Master's word, Peace be unto you," but when 
''He showed them His hands and His side" had 
turned away from Him ? What sort of a picture on 
canvas, or to the mind's eye, would he make, whose 
ears should be attentive to Christ's loving words, 
whilst his eyes were closed to His loving actions ? 
Whose hands should be outstretched to grasp the 
offered blessing of peace, but whose head should be 
averted in anger, contempt, or indifference, from the 
Divine Giver ? Come now, you who believe that 
Christ's word of peace is indeed good news to the 
world, but who will not receive Christ's wounded 
hands, and side, as the sign that His cross is your 
merit, and that conformity to His pure life is your 
rule, come and let us study your precise spiritual 
attitude. On that broad canvas which depicts the 
moral position of each one of us, what, I say, is 
the attitude of him who wants peace, but rejects 
Christ crucified as the way of peace ? Hands out- 
stretched to grasp the blessing, head and heart 
averted from looking upon Him who offers it. Ears 
wide open to hear the words, "Peace be unto you," 
eyes tight closed against the sight of His hands 
and His side. Is there any less pleasing, less grace- 
ful, attitude that you can imagine, which could dis- 
figure an artist's canvas } Is there any more un- 
graceful moral attitude, that can dishonor a man 



256 



Christ's Peace. 



made in God's image, and redeemed by the blood 
of a crucified Lord ? You will have peace, but will 
not look upon Him who made peace ! No, my broth- 
er, you cannot have the comfort without the sight. 
You might as well know it once for all, the blessing 
of Christ's peace is indissolubly connected with the 
vision of Christ crucified. There is no peace with- 
out pardon, and pardon is to be found in the finished 
work of the atoning Lamb of God. There is no peace 
without purity, and purity is to be had only by the 
gracious power of the Spirit, secured for us by the 
work of the cross. 

There is no peace without self-control, and this is 
only to be gained in such a sight of the Victim of 
the Cross as will lead to a reproduction of the vision 
in our personal, daily, hourly self-crucifixion to the 
world, the flesh, and the devil. There is no peace 
to the impure, the licentious, the intemperate, the 
covetous, the revengeful, or the uncharitable. There 
is no peace to the passionate, the unforgiving, the 
unsympathizing, the hard-hearted. The man who 
wrongs his neighbor and will not repair the wrong, 
who never forgives an injury, who scorns instead of 
helping an erring brother, who shuts his ears and 
heart against the beggar, and who wrings the last 
farthing from the widow, the fatherless and the poor, 
has no peace. There is no peace, saith my God to 
the wicked; and he is wicked who closes his eyes to 



Christ's Peace. 



257 



the vision of Christ crucified, which tells what the 
Son of God Incarnate has done for him, and what 
that crucified Saviour expects each man to do for 
himself, through the freely offered aid of the Holy 
Ghost. 

And now, in conclusion, let me say that even in 
the bright realms of Heaven, and throughout the 
eternal ages, the ever-living Lord shall bear in the 
body of His humanity the wounds which for our sake 
He welcomed upon the cross. And when the end of 
this dispensation and of the age shall come, and the 
sign of the Son of man shall be hung out in the 
heavens as the signal for judgment, every eye shall 
look upon the Judge, even they that pierced Him, 
and they shall see one wounded in His hands and in 
His side ! 

And when that great day shall have passed, and 
with it all the sins, sorrows, infirmities, repentances 
and struggles of this weary world, when the cease- 
less Liturgy of the Cherubim-cry, " Holy, holy, holy, 
Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to 
come," mingles with the new song which every crea- 
ture which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under 
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that 
are in them, shall sing, saying, "Blessing and honor 
and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon 
the throne, and unto the Lamb forever" — even then, 
Avhen God and Eternity have taken the place of the 



258 



Christ's Peace. 



finite and the fleeting, these words of peace shall be 
accompanied with the vision of Christ crucified; for 
the Revelation of St. John which rehearses the jubi- 
lant song of Seraphim and Saints, contains this rec- 
ord — "And I beheld, and lo, in tJie midst of the 
th?^07ie, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of 
the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain! " 

A Lamb as it had been slain! what a sight 
to behold in Heaven ! And yet it is the central point 
of Heaven, and of Heaven's worship. A Lamb as it 
had been slain, standing in the midst of the throne 
of God ! Who does not recognize that immaculate, 
that divine Victim, who died upon the bitter cross, 
to be for all men, and all ages, the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sins of the world ! A Lamb AS IT 
HAD BEEN SLAIN ! Who does not acknowledge that 
even in Heaven and throughout Eternity there shall 
be a memorial of Christ's marred yet glorified human- 
ity, of the suffering caused by sin, as well as of the 
triumph through the power of God } 

Come, brother, whether you write yourself saint or 
sinner, see amid the peaceful worship of Heaven a 
Lamb as it had been slain; come and listen how that 
white-robed host say that ''they have washed their 
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," 
and tell me now, whether there is any peace on earth 
or in Heaven except in connection with a heart-felt 
vision of Christ crucified. 



Christ's Peace. 



259 



May God give us grace to seek peace by a living, 
loving, practical faith in the Lamb of God slain for 
the sin of the world ! For it is true now and here, 
as it will be true of Heaven and Eternity, that He 
who says, Peace be unto you," shows at the same 
time His hands and His side. It is true now and 
forever that Christ's blessing of peace is indissolubly 
connected with the vision of Christ crucified. 



SERMON XX. 

EASTER. EVEN. 

HEBREWS IV. 9. 

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.^' 

The weary hours of the sad week which wit- 
nessed the unparalleled sin of man and the infinite 
charity of the Son of God, have drawn at length to 
their close; the last Lenten Litany has been said, 
the last Lenten service for prayer is over, and the 
peaceful shadows of the Eve of the Resurrection 
begin to gather around us, filling our hearts with 
calm, quiet, pleasant thoughts of rest. The Bride 
of Christ, like the blessed Virgin Mother, having stood 
yesterday beneath the cross with her heart pierced 
with the sword that shed the life blood of the im- 
maculate Victim, now sits with the holy women over 
against the sepulchre, partaking of the tranquillity 
which His blessed form itself possesses, watching, 
waiting, hoping. 

We keep to-day the great Sabbath of our brothers 
of Israel, and Easter-Even is our Christian name for 
that high day in the old Hebrew Calendar when the 



Easter-Even. 



261 



crucifiers and the Crucified alike rested from their 
labors. All things tell of rest to-day. The Church's 
Liturgy interprets for us the theology of the Master's 
rest, and bids us think of rest from sin in baptism, 
and rest from toil in the grave. Did you not hear 
how St. Paul, in the lesson of the Evening Prayer, 
makes this word "rest" the key-note of his inspired 
harmonies, and runs it through every inflection of 
the mystic diapason from the first to the last Sab- 
bath.-^ Listen to him: "Let us fear, lest a promise 
being left us of entering into His rest, any of you 
should seem to come short of it." Listen again: 
" We which have believed do enter into His rest." 
Hear how the key-note of the evangelical promises 
sounds among the harshest threats of the elder 
dispensation: " As I have sworn in My wrath if they 
shall enter into My rest;'' hear it again, sounding 
amid the earliest voices of creation: "God did rest 
the seventh day from all His works;" hear it yet 
again, harmonizing the voices of the new creation 
with those of the old: "There remaineth a rest to 
the people of God." 

Let us fill our hearts, then, with the gracious 
teaching of Easter-Even, and meditate on the Divine 
Master's mysterious rest in His body and in His 
soul, whereby He hath gained for all believers a 
hopeful rest for their bodies in the grave, and for 
their souls in Paradise. 



262 



Easter-Even. 



Let us consider, in the first place, the Divine 
Master's mysterious rest in His body, and its bearing 
on the rest that remainetn for the bodies of the 
saints, the people of God. The only day in our Mas- 
ter's toilsome life that He was not visibly engaged 
in deeds of benevolence was this Saturday ; when 
though His body was among men, it did not seem 
to be active in behalf of men; the only day whereon 
no miracle of healing was visibly wrought; whereon 
His lips spoke not audibly the eternal truths of the 
Gospel, and His hand was not seen to be outstretched 
to feed the hungry, to cleanse the leper, or to raise 
to life some disconsolate widow's child. For the first 
time this day — since the child Jesus tarried behind 
in the temple — did the temple courts and the listen- 
ing worshipper fail at the Paschal time to hear the 
accents of that tongue "which spake as never man 
spake." 

The multitude of Jerusalem's poor, halt, lame, and 
blind waited, as never before, in vain for His wel- 
come presence. Who absolved their bodies from the 
bands of disease and their souls from the still more 
direful malady of sin. Hypocritical Herodian, scorn- 
ful Pharisee, and infidel Sadducee cannot, after all 
their search to-day, encounter the Prophet of Naz- 
areth, who never before had shrunk from meeting 
them in disputation. The olive trees across the 
Kedron wait in vain to-day to welcome Him Who 



Easter-Even. 



263 



ofttimes resorted thither with His disciples; and on the 
farther side of Olivet a brother and two sisters weep in 
their desolate home, for the Guest Whose presence had 
been the blessing of their household is numbered with 
the dead; and Mary of Bethany may no longer sit at 
His sacred feet, to hear of the good part which 
shall never be taken away from her." 

It could only be the day whereon His soul was reft 
from the body by the fierce stroke of death, and His 
form lay motionless in the sepulchre. No day had 
passed when His body was alive, that it did not exert 
every power for the good of men. It only rested on 
this Easter-Even, when those whom He had so often 
blessed, in ungrateful return had nailed Him to the 
cross. And it may teach us all, that there is, and 
ought to be, no absolute rest for the disciple of Jesus, 
until ''the night cometh, when no^man can work." A 
life of ceaseless benevolence, of Christian charity, of 
holy enterprise, is our privilege; and no day should 
pass wherein the powers of body, intellect, education, 
or fortune, which have been given us, should not be put 
forth for the glory of God, and the good of our fellow- 
men. No day without its word or work of mercy, no 
day without a deeper sense of sin in ourselves, so that 
we may the more deeply sympathize with the penitent 
soul that asks our aid; no day without the prayer that 
God's Holy Spirit will help us to be like Christ in go- 
ing about doing good. So long as we have life, we 



264 



Easter-Even. 



may, we must, work; the hour will come — it hastens 
— it has come for some who Avere here last Easter- 
Even — when the over-wrought brain shall be still, and 
the body, wearied in every muscle, shall slumber in 
perfect repose, and then shall be rest. 

In speaking of Christ's body to-day as seevdingly 
inactive in good works for our afflicted humanit}', we 
are onh* speaking of what meets the outward senses. 
Our ^Master's bod}- was not inactive even in the sep- 
ulchre; it was in fact en^acred in a glorious work for 
the good of e\'-ery child of Adam; struggling in the 
silence, and darkness of the tomb against corruption, 
and contending fierceh- with that unseen enemy who 
had claimed as his own the whole race of man. 

When we recollect that Satan, from whom our 
I\Iaster seized the keys of death and hell, as the Rev- 
elation of St. John seems to describe, is a personal 
agent, capable of joy, and terror, is it too bold an ex- 
ercise of the imagination to conceive the strange emo- 
tions with Avhich he Avatched the body placed by the 
priests within the well-sealed sepulchre of Joseph 
of Arimathea ^ In vain the hitherto victorious key- 
bearer of the grave attempts to exert his power on 
the dead bod}- of the insulted, crucified Jesus of Naz- 
areth. He seems to be the conqueror of Jesus, for the 
lifeless body is within the tomb: but the conqueror is 
foiled. The first night passes slowly awa}-, and the 
body sees no corruption; the next da\- passes awa}-, and 



Easter-Even. 



265 



still it sees no corruption; another night succeeds, but 
still the mysterious sleep, refreshing, not destroying, 
goes on. Satan summons his agent Death to do his 
work, but in vain; and as the hours of Easter-Even 
slowly but steadily pass into the midnight watch, one 
may fancy that Satan within the tomb, heard words 
of defiance as if from the body before him — Death, 
I will be thy plagues! O Grave, I will be thy de- 
struction." 

Yes, that rest of Easter-Even is full of mysterious 
activity. Christ, dead to human sense, is living unto 
God, and doing God's mighty work in our behalf. 
Let it never be forgotten, that by virtue of the mighty 
controversy which is this day going on within the 
hidden recesses of the sepulchre of Joseph of Ari- 
mathea, and by which corruption is resisted, the 
grave is made the gate of our own joyful resurrection. 
Because Christ's body saw no corruption. He made 
the grave a mere resting-place for the people of God. 
Because Christ's body triumphed over him that had 
the power of death, the bodies of the saints shall tri- 
umph, and rise again. 

But let us pass, from meditating on the work 
which the body of our Master in its Easter-Even 
rest, is accomplishing for us, — to contemplate, so far 
as we may, the still more mysterious work of His 
soul; which separated by death from the body, is 
also full of life, full of action, full of zeal in the same 



266 



Easter-Even. 



glorious cause, for which the work of redemption had 
been undertaken and completed. 

It is an article of the Creed, one of the truths re- 
vealed in the Gospel, and held by the Church uni- 
versal, that after Christ's death, His soul, separated 
from the body, went into the place where the disem- 
bodied spirits of all go; where ours must go, when 
death terminates our earthly pilgrimage. Christ was 
perfect Man, with soul, and body; and when He died, 
His body was deposited as the bodies of men shall 
be, in the tomb; and His squI went, as the souls of 
men shall go, to the world of spirits. This doctrine 
is expressed in the Creed by the words, " He de- 
scended into hell"; the word "hell" being used in 
the Creed according to its literal meaning, the un- 
seen placed Now it was among the souls in Paradise 
that Christ's spirit dwelt on this day, during His 
body's rest in the tomb. We are told by the inspired 
Apostle (in the portion of his writings appointed to 
be read as the Epistle for Easter-Even), in what the 
soul of our Saviour was employed during this mys- 
terious portion of His existence. He was ''preaching 
to the spirits in prison," or in the place of safe keep- 
ing; so St. Peter tells us — specially to those, who 
having been disobedient in the days of Noah, and 
yet having repented before the terrific deluge had 
actually overwhelmed them, needed special comfort 
from the Saviour. To them the news of the consum- 



Easter-Even. 



267 



mation of redemption was especially grateful. To 
all the spirits of Paradise, was the announcement of 
what had transpired on earth full of glorious hope; 
but to none so truly as to those who at the eleventh 
hour of their probation, felt for the first time the emo- 
tions of penitence amid the driving storm, and rising 
waves of the deluge. It is thus that we may derive 
a satisfactory meaning from the confessedly obscure 
passage which forms the Epistle for Easter-Even — 
" Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by 
the Spirit, by which also He went and preached unto 
the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobe- 
dient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in 
the days of Noah." 

The mission of Christ's soul on this day was to 
preach in its disembodied state, to those in the same 
condition; to those who in the security of Paradise 
were still waiting their perfect consummation of bliss, 
both in body and soul. And as His soul was not left 
in Hell, or Hades, so has Christ made the place of 
the departed spirits a mere resting-place for the souls 
of the saints. Thus for soul and body, there remain- 
eth, as saith the holy Apostle — a rest for the people 
of God. 

Brethren in Christ, we shall find in the grave the 
tokens of our Saviour's presence and victory. We 
shall find death bound by One stronger than he. Who 
hath overcome him in the struggle for the rest of both 



268 



Easter-Even. 



body and soul. We shall go into the place of de- 
parted spirits, and there too shall we find the tokens 
of the Master's presence and victory. When faithless 
hearts tell us of the power of death, let the Easter- 
Even's teachings sustain us. He cannot retain the 
body placed in His keeping; He cannot disturb the 
soul's quiet rest in Paradise, and the trumpet call of 
the resurrection which shall unite again both body 
and soul, for the eternal rest of Heaven, shall declare 
how truly baffled is the work of Satan, and how truly 
the Master's words are the unfailing hope of the be- 
liever: "Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am 
He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive 
forevermore. Amen ; and have the keys of hell and 
of death." 

Let us close these meditations with words of 
comfort suggested by the holy doctrine of this Eas- 
ter-Even. We have all of us need of the consola- 
tion which flows from the ground-truth of the Faith, 
that Christ, though in the tomb, yet saw no corrup- 
tion. His Spirit, though in the place of the departed, 
was not left there. All this tells of the rest, in body 
and soul, which remaineth for the people of God. We 
all have need of the comfort too, which this same 
glorious doctrine gives, as it respects those who ''have 
gone before us." We all have those we love hidden 
from our sight; and, oh how heavily life presses upon 
us without their visible, sustaining hand ! But Jesus, 



Easter-Even. 



269 



dead — buried — sees no corruption : — the grave there- 
fore is become a place of rest for the bodies, as the 
place of the departed, is iiow the rest of Paradise. 

The thoughts, then, of Easter-Even, and of what 
our Master gained for the members of His mystical 
body, are full of hope, full of sweetness for us, when 
we think of our rest — rest in the grave, rest in Para- 
dise. This is a day for all to think of death unto sin, 
and the new life of righteousness, and the daily morti- 
fying of our evil and corrupt affections, so that being 
dead with Christ, we may evermore live with Him. 
This is a day for holy and wholesome realization of 
the communion of saints, as it respects those who 
sleep in Jesus; as one in Him, our common Lord and 
King, who has gained for us, and for all the people 
of God, rest in the grave — rest in the unseen world; 
with the joyful hope of our perfect consummation in 
body and soul, when the Easter-Even of the Church 
Militant, shall have been exchanged for the Queen 
of Feasts in Jerusalem the Golden. Amen. 



SERMON XXI. 



SIN, ITS REALITY, AND THE NECESSITY OF 
RESISTANCE. 

HEBREWS XII. 4. 

" Ve have not resisted unto blood, striving against siny 

The first topic for study is the fearful reality of 
sin. Whatever that may be against which all men 
are called to struggle must be a most real evil; that 
against which our resistance may be ^'even unto 
blood " must be a fearful reality. No man of sense 
fights with a shadow; no one who has not filled his 
mind with the dread issue of the fight resists unto 
blood. Certainly then when Almighty God calls us 
to struggle against sin, and tells us to ''resist even 
unto blood," sin must be a fearful reality. 

This is a short way, perhaps, of arriving at a 
conclusion as to the nature of sin; but it may serve 
without the use of too many words to call attention 
to the slight, imperfect, and perfunctory notions en- 
tertained by so many about sin. If men believed 
sin to be a reality, would they act in relation to it 
as if it were a theological absurdity, a mere word, 
something nominal, not real.? If they thought it 



Resistance of Sin. 



271 



fearful, would they live in it, embrace it, love it ? or 
if they resist at all, resist feebly, fitfully, grudgingly ? 

When a text like that which St. Paul has given 
us speaks in inspired and measured terms of sin as 
something to be resisted, resisted unto blood, I say 
to you, my brother, you and I have made a great 
mistake if we have talked and acted as if sin were 
a small thing, or nothing. It is an evil, a real evil, 
a dreadful reality. No matter what man may think 
of it, God thinks of it as our text describes it. No 
matter what men, even Christian people, may do to 
encourage and even welcome sin, God rouses every 
one who has ears to hear with the changeless battle- 
cry. Resist even unto blood, striving against sin." 
No matter what men, believers or unbelievers, may 
say as to the cause of failure on the part of those 
who profess to appreciate the fearful reality of evil, 
and to have warred against it and failed, Almighty 
God gives the explanation of failures in this great 
moral struggle in the changeless rebuke, ''Ye have 
not yet resisted unto blood." 

O Christian men and women, ye have failed in the 
battle between sin and holiness, not because evil is 
stronger than good and Satan more powerful than 
God, but because '' Ye have not yet resisted unto 
blood, striving against sin." 

But here it is a fair question for all of us to ask, 
To what does the Apostle refer when he speaks of 



2/2 



Resistance of Sin. 



resisting unto blood, and what does a Christian min- 
ister mean in using the term ? As to the reference 
of St. Paul in the text, there need be no doubt when 
you read the verse w^hich precedes the text: " Con- 
sider Him " (Jesus) ''that endured such contradic- 
tion of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied, 
and faint in your minds." The Apostle is pointing 
us to the history of Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, 
not only for an illustration of the fearful reality of 
sin, as it dared to encounter even Him, but also of 
the greatness of the moral struggle required to over- 
come it. Jesus was tempted; Jesus suffered, being 
tempted; Jesus overcame only by resisting even unto 
blood. 

In that mysterious resistance within the precincts 
of Gethsemane, when He said to His chosen disciples, 
" Pray that ye enter not into temptation," He went 
into His own battle w^th temptation and strove 
against sin, with prayers, and tears, and great drops 
of blood falling down even unto the ground. 

It is a scene the contemplation of which must be 
accom.panied with the profoundest reverence and awe. 
We must approach with shoes from off our feet the 
place where Jesus, our Exemplar, resisted even unto 
blood, striving against sin, for the ground whereon 
we stand is holy ground. God is there, but it is 
God-Man. He is our brother as He is our God, and 
we may learn, we must learn, not all the mystery of 



Resistance of Sin. 



273 



that passion, but this, which practically concerns us: 
that sin is a fearful reality, and its complete and 
final resistance is, not in soul only, but in body like- 
wise, even unto blood. 

If now you further ask, What meaning does the 
Christian minister give in using the strong phrase- 
ology of the text as instructive for our practical 
guidance in our spiritual duty ? I answer, that next 
to the recognition of the fact that sin is a fearful 
reality, we must comprehend the. fact that its com- 
plete overthrow in ourselves personally must involve 
a real discipline, a real struggle, costing physical as 
well as spiritual suffering, and leaving its marks on our 
bodies as well as on our souls, subduing the flesh to 
the spirit. Oh, brother, do you think this is the dec- 
lamation of the pulpit } Then I tell you plainly, you 
do not know what sin is, and you are overcome by 
your sins daily. If your resistance to sin has never 
passed beyond a general confession that we are mis- 
erable sinners, a sigh over the sinfulness of the human 
race in general; if it has not gone at least as far as 
a personal confession, a prayer, a groan, a tear; — you 
have never successfully resisted many, and those too 
common, sins. If you have not gone beyond even 
this, and felt not spiritual suffering only, but physical 
likewise — the crossing and curbing of the appetite, 
the stern denial which makes its mark on the flesh 
and which touches the very blood, you have not 



274 



Resistance of Sin. 



overcome the sins which jeopardize your personal 
salvation. 

When we bewail our sins, and say that we can- 
not resist them successfully, the true answer which 
the Spirit of God gives, is, you have not put forth 
resistance enough. You have not made that resist- 
ance real enough; it has not touched your body as 
well as your soul. " You have not yet resisted 
unto blood, striving against sin." 

Come now, and let us reason together. What 
hopefulness for ourselves as individuals can we law- 
fully cherish, if in the presence of this fearful reality 
of sin, we show so little resistance of a real sort t 
Little, because not involving daily, and hourly control 
of body, as well as soul; little, because not carried 
''even unto blood." Unreal, because not availing it- 
self of those means of grace which God hath appointed 
in His prayer, and worship, and Sacraments, and holy 
Word. 

My brother, you say you have tried to overcome 
sin, and you have failed. And yet perhaps you have 
never avowed your penitence — never openly confessed 
Jesus Christ as a Saviour from sin— never bowed your 
knee in public attestation that you are willing to take 
His grace, and Gospel for your help, and rule. You 
say that the struggle against sin is hopeless, your 
power to keep your good resolutions just nothing; and 
yet you fail to seek spiritual strength, and refresh- 



Resistance of Sin. 



275 



ment in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of 
Christ, ordained by Him to strengthen and refresh 
your soul; and have failed to avail yourself of the wor- 
ship of God where it is accessible to you. 

Now, the honest way for a man to speak, who 
knows that he is acting contrary to the revealed plan 
of salvation, contrary to the teachings of the Church 
and Word of God — is to confess that he really does 
not care about sin, or salvation. But let him, for his 
manliness' sake, say no longer that he really wishes 
to get the better of sin, and to grow in the knowledge 
of Christ, and heavenly things, when he is daily and 
knowingly putting away from him the means of grace, 
and knowledge, opened in the Book, and Church of 
God, and rendered accessible in Pastoral teaching, 
and ministrations. My answer to you, O my brother, 
who have not followed the plainest dictates of the 
Word of God, and repented, and renounced your sins, 
and confessed openly, Jesus the only Saviour from 
sin, — my answer to your seemingly earnest words 
about failure to get the better of sin, is this — "You 
have not yet resisted, striving against sin." 

And so to you, disciple of Jesus, avowed Christian 
— I address myself, and say. Do you seek for the cause 
of the abounding of sin in your own heart, and among 
Christians at large Is your lamentation over your 
own lukewarmness, and infirmities, your little progress 
in spiritual things, and feeble power over your sins. 



2/6 



Resistance of Sin, 



an honest lamentation, and no mere stereotyped 
phrase ? Are your bemoanings over the worldliness 
of Christian society, and the ungodUness of Christian 
people, truth, and not mere cant ? Then look for the 
cause of the trouble in yourself, and others — in the 
neglect of divine grace, and of the means of grace; in 
the neglect of self-denial, and crucifixion to sin. For 
''they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with 
the affections and lusts." No wonder that sin abounds 
in professed Christians, if we will not take as addressed 
to ourselves the warning, Ye have not yet resisted 
unto blood, striving against sin." No wonder that 
such resistance is impossible in any degree to those 
who lightly prize the appointed means of grace. 

Beloved, let us all, in this great struggle with 
sin, be guided by the teachings of the Holy Ghost, 
in the Gospel of Christ, and by the authority of the 
Christian Church. In this fearful moral struggle, 
what weapons are to be used, and what support is 
to be relied on, is a matter of pure revelation. To 
save the soul is too hard a task for any but God. 
Mere man must let that alone forever. What will 
help, what will hinder us in our struggle against 
sin, I know not, you know not — it must be told us 
from above, or the struggle is aimless, hopeless. 

I do not believe that Satan is stronger than God, 
but I do believe that he is stronger than any man, 
unless God help us in the fight. But God has helped 



Resista7ice of Sin. 



277 



us; if we will take His Gospel for our authority, His 
grace is given, His means of grace provided. 

Oh Christians, let us not dispute about these 
means, but use them; let us not pass on debating 
unrevealed questions of the value of prayer, the 
necessity of daily worship, the nature of grace, and 
the frequency of the use of the means of grace; but 
let us take our stand, as men in earnest, as those 
who have a real and fearful evil to contend with, 
and who are actually engaged in that contest, on 
the issue of which salvation depends. Let us accept 
our moral, and spiritual condition as we find it; and 
the means of resistance let us use, just as we find 
them. 

Why the good God permitted you and me to 
come into the world with sin, infecting blood and 
spirit both, we need not know. Why the same loving 
Father has said we must fight, and if need be, ''even 
unto blood" — why He has made the Aveapons of 
warfare to consist, not of inner thoughts and emo- 
tions only, but also of such things as prayer, and 
Holy Sacraments, we need not know. 

All that we need know is, that here is our enemy 
— here our battle-ground, and here our weapons of 
warfare. We may fight or not, as we please; but 
we take the inevitable consequence of not choosing 
to fight. Do not say that you cannot, but that you 
laill not overcome sin, so long as you will not deny 



2;8 



Resistance of Sin. 



the appetites of the body, and the lusts of the soul 
— so long as you do not resist unto blood, striving 
against sin; so long as you decline to use, or to use 
vigorously and loyally, the means for giving you 
spiritual power, and grace to resist sin. Strive ear- 
nestly then, that ''Being made free from sin, and 
become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages 
of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." 



SERMON XXII. 



CHRISTIAN MURMURERS. 

ST. MATT. XX. II-I5. 

*^And when they had received it, they tnurmured against the goodman 
of the house, saying. These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast 
7nade them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the 
day. But he answered one of them, and said. Friend, I do thee no wrong: 
didst not thou agree with me for a penny ? Take that thine is, and go thy 
way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me 
to do what I will with mine own ? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? " 

Our adorable Redeemer instructs us in this parable 
of the kingdom of heaven, that there are mysterious 
facts connected with the administration of the Evan- 
gelical scheme, which are to be solved upon one 
of two seemingly opposite principles: First, the over- 
flowing of God's grace; second, the strict adherence 
to a covenanted reward. The householder gives the 
penny to those hired at the eleventh hour, not 
because he has covenanted it; but because his money 
was his own: he did what he pleased, and his grace 
overflowed. The householder gave the penny to 
those hired at the first hour, because he had cove- 
nanted so to do; and this covenant, and his right to 
do what he pleased towards others, without any 
covenant, should have stopped all murmurings. 



28o 



Christian Murmurers, 



Now, my object is to offer these principles as a 
solution of certain difficulties connected with the 
Gospel, which are often debated in this day, and 
sometimes form stumbling-blocks in the way of a 
practical reception of its divine system. 

Let me select three of these questions. 

1. The salvability of the heathen. 

2. The signs of piety beyond the limits of the 
visible Church. 

3. The necessity of prayer, to God Who is immu- 
table, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 

I think that each of these questions may be settled 
satisfactorily by carefully applying one or other of 
the two principles set forth by our Master, in the 
parable of the laborers in the vineyard. 

One often hears the question of the salvability of 
the heathen argued by certain Christian people, in a 
tone which approaches to something very like mur- 
muring against the Householder of the Christian 
Church. The assertion that the heathen will not be 
lost simply because they are heathen is sometimes 
met with rebuke and opposition. And it is also to 
be noticed that there is an analogy between the 
murmuring laborers of the parable, and these modern 
malcontents; in that blessings, possible or actual, to 
others, lead to discontent with their own covenanted 
reward. 

That it is possible for Him who hath made, and 



Christian Murmurers. 



281 



redeemed the world, to save those who are not 
blessed with the express revelation of His Gospel, 
and the covenant relation of the Christian Church, 
no one can deny. That this possibility rises into 
the highest degree of probability when we consider 
the unspeakable charity of our Heavenly Father, as 
declared by the fact and consequences of the In- 
carnation of His only-begotten Son — is equally clear. 
But it reaches an absolute certainty when we take 
the principle set forth in this parable, that God may 
do as He will with His own, though He has made no 
covenant with these receivers of His bounty. The 
voice of God's Spirit speaks through the conscience 
to every one, and it is heard by every one: to the 
Christian under the Gospel it speaks with the power 
of a covenant; to others simply as the summons of a 
supreme power, to duty; but to those who have, and 
those who have not, the covenant, the reward is of 
grace, and to the heathen, obeying the call of God, 
the reward is of a grace overflowing. 

I do not suppose it is necessary to stir up the 
missionary zeal of Christian nations by denying the 
general proposition of the salvability of the heathen. 
The command of Christ — Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the Gospel to every creature," is the 
sufficient reason, and motive to every Christian dis- 
ciple and Church to labor Till earth's remotest 
nation has learnt Messiah's name." Yet the state- 



282 



CJiristian MiLvmiirers . 



ment that those who are without the light of the 
Gospel, though exposed to great perils to their souls, 
will not, — for the simple fact of not having the Gos- 
pel — be lost; is regarded with disapprobation by many 
Christian people. See how it will be met with the 
murmurs, "Why then send the Gospel ? If God can 
save the heathen without the knowledge, in this life, 
of the Gospel, what need of men, and money, and 
toil in missionary effort?" 

I answer, send it because Christ our ]\Iaster com- 
manded us to do so. Spend money and life in mis- 
sionary effort, because Christ our ^Master commanded 
us to do so. ^Missions are not to rest upon our no- 
tions of expediency, but upon our obedience to Christs 
word; not upon our speculations, which put the hea- 
then in a worse condition than God has placed them 
in; but upon the order, "Go preach the Gospel." 
Almighty God has bound us, who profess to obey 
Him, to send the revelation of His Son throughout 
the world: He has not bound Himself to consign to 
everlasting punishment, those v/ho through the omis- 
sion of Christians, or any other cause, — not identi- 
fied with their own voluntary action — have not heard 
the Gospel. He has given no Christian man the 
right to bind Him where He has not bound Him- 
self. God does no wrong to the Christian with 
whom He has entered into covenant, if He should, 
in the Day of Judgment, for Christs sake, extend 



CJi ris tia n Mu rni iirers . 



283 



mercy to those Vv'ho, without their own fault, were 
never placed within the sound of the Gospel. 

But let us pass on to notice another difficulty. 
There is a class of Christians, whose minds seem to 
dwell upon the fact, that whilst the Sacraments of the 
Gospel have been instituted as the channels of grace, 
there are those who reject them, yet exhibit in their 
life many of those virtues which are justly accounted 
the fruit of the Spirit, and the offspring of Grace. 
This difficulty is to be met in the heart of Christen- 
dom itself, and it is worthy of our deepest atten- 
tion. It is sometimes discussed with something of 
an impatient tone, and the result of impatience is 
manifested in dissatisfaction with, or doubt of, the 
covenant plan of salvation, of which the Evangelical 
Sacraments are the seals and pledges. 

By a reference again, to the principle in the par- 
able of the laborers, this disposition to murmur may 
be corrected, and loyalty to God's covenant, and at 
the same time, an acknowledgment of His power 
to do what He wills with His own, may be main- 
tained. That God has bound us, — to whom He has 
given a clear knowledge of the constitution and bless- 
ings of the Christian Church, — to expect grace in 
the appointed means, and in no other way, is an 
article of the Faith involved in that part of the 
Creed which asserts the existence of the Holy Cath- 
olic Church. 



284 



Christian Murmurers. 



But although Almighty God has covenanted with 
us, and in the details of that covenant, has bound 
us to conformity to His revealed will; it does not 
necessarily follow that He has bound Himself so, 
that when invincible ignorance is the bar to a re- 
ception of the means of grace. He may not impart, 
according to His own will, a measure of grace suf- 
ficient to produce the good fruits which exist in 
those to whom we refer. If this explanation should 
lead any to murmur and to say that the authority 
and obligation of the Christian Church are loosened, 
and that the legitimate result of such an opinion 
tends to free all from any responsibility to unite 
themselves with it; I can only reply by denying 
the alleged consequences. God has bound us and 
all to whom His Church, and faith, and Sacraments 
have been fully revealed, to enter into covenant 
with Him, and to receive our reward according to 
the terms of the Evangelical covenant. If any, there- 
fore, murmur at God's benevolence reaching beyond 
the limits of Christendom, the reply to such, is found 
in the glorious truth taught in one part of this par- 
able, that God's mercy overflows, that He binds not 
Himself with respect to others of His children, when 
He enters into special covenant with us, who are 
within reach of the civilizing, elevating, sanctifying 
influences of the Gospel. ''Take that thine is, and 
go thy way," and thank the Great Householder, that 



Christian Miwmiirers. 



285 



of His overflowing grace, He will do what He pleases 
with His own. He will give to those with whom He 
has made no covenant, that which is right. 

Whether our explanation of the existence of Chris- 
tian virtues among the unbaptized, and those not of 
the Church, be received as forcible, or rejected as 
feeble, the compact under which we expect grace, 
and its blessings, is that which bound us to enter the 
Church, and seek for grace in its appointed Sacra- 
ments, and ministrations. The same. Evangelical Cov- 
enant, as revealed to us in Christ's Gospel, impels us 
to present the Christian Church, with its holy minis- 
trations, as the ark of safety, to all with whom we 
come in contact. 

But when the fact of those out of the Church ex- 
hibiting fruits of grace, is incontestably pointed out, 
we must not murmur against the Divine Householder, 
Who, whilst He gives us that He has promised, seems 
in the fact alleged to be saying to us, "Friend, I do 
thee no wrong; didst thou not agree with Me for a 
penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way; I will 
give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not law- 
ful for Me to do what I will with Mine own } Is thine 
eye evil because I am good } " To my own mind, this 
argumentative answer to the laborers gives a safer 
theory of explanation of the anomaly just referred 
to, than either that which denies the existence of 
a palpable fact, or that which assumes that the 



286 



Christian Murinurers. 



fruits of grace can grow in the natural evil of a sin- 
ful heart. 

But I hasten to notice the third class of difficulties 
connected with the administration of the kingdom 
of heaven, which I have selected for consideration in 
this discourse, and for which the parable affords a 
satisfactory solution. I refer to the difficulty which 
some minds find in the necessity and value of prayer; 
seeing that God is immutable, and that therefore His 
moral government of us is unalterable. The con- 
clusion to which this difficulty leads, is that prayer 
is simply useless; and the form of the objection par- 
takes of a sort of religious self-deception. 

Now, the answer to this difficulty may be found in 
the fact set forth in the parable, that the householder 
gives the penny according to agreement — the terms 
of the agreement binding both parties. That is to 
say, God's express covenant with man to bestow spir- 
itual blessings, involves the duty of prayer, and you 
have agreed, if you hope for any blessing under the 
Evangelical Covenant, to secure it by the act of 
prayer. You must pray, or you cannot secure the 
reward. Friend, didst thou not agree with Me for 
a penny " When you have performed your part of 
the covenant, behold the covenanted reward. I know 
that this does not remove the abstract metaphysical 
difficulty founded upon a theoretical survey of God's 
immutability and foreknowledge. But neither does 



Christian MiL7'murers. 



287 



the householder's reply in the text, explain the 
seeming contradiction of making those who had 
wrought but one hour equal to those who had borne 
the burden and heat of the day. But what is suffi- 
cient for the purpose of practical piety, is the pres- 
entation of the undeniable fact, that God has made 
a covenant, according to which He gives or withholds 
His benevolence. 

I decline to forsake the domain of theology, and 
enter into that of metaphysics, and -debate the ques- 
tion of the value of prayer. I oppose Revelation to 
metaphysics, and to the question, "Why should I pray 
to God, Who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever } " I answer — because that immutable God has 
said, "-Pray without ceasing." Ask, and ye shall 
receive." And I do not perceive that the house- 
holder's reply relieves us of that particular difficulty, 
by any argumentative attempt at explanation or re- 
concilement. He simply refers the complainers to 
their contract; and disposes of their argument by an 
assertion of His own freedom to do what He pleases 
with His ow^n. 

Now in the case of prayer, I do not pretend to 
offer to those who have found contrariety between 
this evangelical duty, and the immutability of the 
divine mind, a theory w^hich will explain the diffi- 
culty, or reconcile the two opposing elements in the 
objection. 



288 CJiristian Munnurers. 

I venture therefore to meet all murmuring on the 
subject by an assertion of God's express will — the un- 
argumentative declaration, that so He has chosen to 
administer the kingdom of heaven; and is it not 
lawful for Him to do what He will with His own ? 

If then, you seek to be blessed — pray. If your in- 
tellect should ask, "What use ? " — let your conscience 
reply, God hath so covenanted in the Gospel revela- 
tion, saying, * Ask, and ye shall have ; seek, and ye 
shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.'" 
If again you be tempted to speculate on the possi- 
bility of such an item in the divine administration of 
the kingdom, consisting with certain attributes, let 
your conscience, and your intellect, both reply. It is 
lawful for God to do what He will with His own: the 
terms of salvation, the w^hole plan, in all its particu- 
lars must be from Him, whose love designed, and 
whose love alone can consummate the gracious work. 

I shall not detain you longer in the citation of 
classes of difficulties which may arise when we 
thoughtfully contemplate many points in the divine 
administration of the kingdom of heaven, and to 
which the parable affords us the key. But having 
painted out a fruitful train of thought, and suggested 
a solution, I conclude with this single remark. If 
those Christians err who seem to deny that there are 
occasions for argumentative murmuring in connection 
with the Gospel, those murmurers err who seek to 



Christian Miirmiirers. 



289 



remove all difficulties by mere philosophical argu- 
mentation. The authoritative assertion of God's will, 
when the assertion is grounded upon the inspired 
Scriptures, is a fair answer to perplexities which arise 
from our logical deductions, and ought to be conclu- 
sive with an honest inquirer after the truth. 

We are too apt to forget that religion is a subject 
for action, rather than speculation, and that its doc- 
trines and its facts are for the discipline of the heart 
rather than of the intellect. The- procedure of the 
householder in our Lord's parable was certainly mys- 
terious, but (aside from the fact that it involved no 
injustice) it might, had the laborers trusted in him, 
have been the occasion of deepening their confidence 
in his love. So too, God's action in the administra- 
tion of the kingdom of heaven, in various depart- 
ments, may, to the philosophical inquirer, present 
occasions for murmuring, unless indeed, under a 
better influence, they become occasions for faith. 
And faith is the life of religion. 

Let those then, who seem to be first, in point of 
intellect and thought, fear, lest by the want of hu- 
mility, and faith, they be found last, in that day when 
God shall meet us for judgment. Let those who are 
called to faith in God's dealings, fear, lest by substi- 
tuting their notions for God's revealed will; their 
murmurings, for meekness — they fail of being chosen 
by Him Whose favor is bestowed upon the humble, 



290 



Christian Murmurers. 



trustful, docile heart, according to His words, "Except 
ye be converted, and become as little children, ye 
shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." 

Let us carry with us, in the consideration of the 
perplexing facts which may meet us in our view of 
the kingdom of heaven — these two principles sup- 
plied by the parable. 

1st. That when God's express covenant is made 
and accepted, He consents to be bound, and holds 
those who are parties to it, to be bound likewise. 
And, 

2nd. That with those, who through no fault of 
theirs, have not become parties to an explicit cove- 
nant—who can say, "No man hath hired us" — with 
these God will deal with that overflowing grace, 
whose existence, and defence too, are set forth in 
the unanswerable question, " Is it not lawful for ]\Ie 
to do what I will with Mine own } " 



SERMON XXIII. 

{Easter Dq}\) 



THE RESURRECTION. 

ST. MATTHEW XX^II. 62, 63, 64. 

'■^ Now the next day, that foUo-ujed the day of the preparation, the chief 
priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying. Sir, zve remember 
that that deceiver said, while He loas yet alive, After three days Izvill rise 
again. Comrnand therefore that tJie sepulchre be made sure until the third 
day, lest His disciples come by night, and steal Him away, and say tinto 
the people. He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than 
the first:' 

The third day has come, and "that deceiver," as 
the chief priests styled our adorable ]\Iaster, has risen 
from the dead. In vain the hitherto victorious key- 
bearer of the grave attempted to exert his power on 
the dead body of the insulted, crucified Jesus. 

The first night within the sepulchre passed, and 
Death was foiled; Christ's body saw no corruption. 
The day succeeded, and" still his power failed him; an- 
other night succeeded, and still the mysterious sleep — 
refreshing, not destroying our blaster's body — went 
on. Satan as he watches and summons his agent 
Death to do his work, seems to hear from the lifeless 
body before him, the defiance, ''O Death, I will be thy 
plagues! O Grave, I will be thy destruction" — until, 
on the morning of the third day, the body of our Lord 



292 



The Resurrection. 



heaves with new life, and spurning the barrier of the 
rocky sepulchre, rises from the dead, the conqueror of 
Death and Hell! *'0 grave, where is thy victory? 
O Death, where is thy sting?" 

The Liturgy of the Church has already proclaimed 
to our waiting souls that the Queen of Festivals, 
commemorative of our Master's splendid triumph, has 
arrived. And now, that we may by God's help cher- 
ish the joyous thoughts which burst forth from every 
part of the service of this high festival, let us, by way 
of Easter meditation dwell on some considerations 
which may show the unspeakable importance to the 
Christian faith, of the event commemorated to-day, 
and how, in the language of the prejudiced priests, it 
makes the last error worse than the first. 

In the first place: the resurrection of Jesus is the 
perfect and entirely unanswerable demonstration of 
the truth of the Christian religion. The certainty 
of the historical fact is settled beyond the shadow 
of rational doubt. The more thoroughly it is sifted 
by those who have the ability to search most keenly 
into the strength, and character of evidence, the more 
indubitable does it appear. Now we are willing to 
rest our whole cause upon this one miracle; Christ ap- 
peals to it in proof of His claims, and so do we. We 
have other miracles and proofs besides, but we pre- 
sent the Christian religion as the last, and perfect, 
manifestation of God's nature and will to mankind; 



The Resurrection. 



293 



and demand from Jew and Gentile its reception as a 
development and improvement of the older dispensa- 
tions, upon the certainty of the historical fact of the 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ on this day. 

He Who was crucified as a deceiver, we affirm did 
on the third day, as predicted, rise to life again, and 
for forty days did manifest Himself not to all the peo- 
ple indeed, yet to some hundreds of persons, and 
among them chosen witnesses, qualified in number 
and character, acquainted with His person, and able- 
to identify Him. 

Now, this is simply a question of fact: let it be so 
treated by all who are doubtful respecting the holy 
Faith which we profess. It is a point concerning 
which the very men who crucified Jesus our Divine 
Master — felt the deepest concern. 

His life, wherein He declared by word and miracle 
that He was the Messiah, the King of Israel, the Son 
of God, was a demonstration of the verity of His 
claim, but His resurrection from the dead was the 
most glorious demonstration of all — and we ask every 
man, Jew and Gentile, who values the favor of God, 
and his own salvation, or the cause of truth, to take 
our holy books, and satisfy Himself of the simple his- 
torical fact. 

If it be "error," then Judaism is still God's chosen 
form of doctrine, and grace; if it be truth, it cannot 
be fought against, for it is of God. Then, indeed, 



294 



TJie Resurrection. 



Israel should confess with us that it is *'the Lord's 
doing, and marvellous in our eyes." We read the his- 
tory of the last two thousand years, and eighteen hun- 
dred and seventy-five years ago we find, in the country 
of the Patriarchs, the children of the Patriarchs; op- 
pressed, yet still a people, with their noble temple, and 
their splendid ceremonial, the pride and wonder of the 
nations. In thirty years, or less, within sight of that 
temple, and upon the holy mountain, the Priests, and 
.people of Israel crucify Jesus of Nazareth, because 
He said He was the Son of God. And here, on this 
glorious Easter Day, that Crucified One is worshipped 
as God manifest in the flesh, and His doctrines are 
held as their hope of Heaven by multitudes of serious 
and earnest men in every quarter of the globe; whilst 
the holy city is, as the Crucified One predicted, with- 
out temple, priest, or sacrifice, the holy people a 
by -word and reproach among the nations of the 
earth, and the foot of the Gentile and his false wor- 
ship desecrates the very Holy of holies. 

The resurrection of Jesus is demonstrated to be 
true, not merely by the evidence of testimony, but 
of results. It has proved itself to be the element 
that gives life to every doctrine which the nature and 
mission of Jesus involve; and has thus far wrought 
the stupendous miracle of the moral change which 
Christianity can point to, and will yet work, with still 
more marvellous power, until every tongue shall con- 



The Resurrection. 



295 



fess the doctrine of a. risen, ever-living Christ, and 
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father. We plant ourselves upon the records of our 
Holy Book, which have thus far been fulfilled, and 
on their authority, we look for a day yet to come, 
whereon the most perfect exhibition will be given of 
the effect of the marvellous work which the Lord hath 
done this day. A time approaches when the cruci- 
fied and risen Jesus shall come again with power and 
great glory, and shall receive the homage of all cre- 
ated beings; and they who crucified Him — he who 
drove the spear into His side — they who set the guard, 
and watched the sepulchre, shall see Him once again; 
and all, from love or fear, shall bow the knee, and 
confess that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Son of 
God. 

Consider also that the Resurrection, which forms 
the great historical fact in the Christian religion, and 
which gives life to every article of the Catholic Faith, 
is of the strictest personal moment to each one, the 
most practical of all practical truths. Jesus our Lord 
was the new head, type, representative, or fountain, 
of our human nature. The only one besides the first 
man Adam, who centred in Himself our entire human- 
ity, and who therefore, was, as He is called in Holy 
Scripture, the second Man, or second Adam. 

It is a doctrine of the faith that from the myste- 
rious assumption of the human nature into union with 



296 



TJie Resurrection. 



the divine, the atonement of the Incarnate God was 
a full and perfect sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction 
for all the sins of the whole world. That He had 
wrought a real blessing for ail, in making it possible 
that all who would, should be saved. Redemption 
for all, good and bad, actual salvation to each one 
who having heard the Gospel, v/ould believe and be 
baptized. 

As part of this same mysterious doctrine founded 
on the realization of the nature of the God-]\Ian, I 
bid you see our personal connection with the resur- 
rection. Redemption for all, as men, without respect 
to aught else save the partnership in Humanit}', has 
been gained by the death of Jesus. Resurrection for 
all, as men, without an}' other qualification, has been 
gained by the resurrection of Jesus. And Resurrection 
7into Eternal Life 'lo those who live as Jesus lived, fol- 
lowing the footsteps of His most holy life. 

As then, the glorious blessing of redemption, will, 
to the rejecters, and despisers of Jesus, be in the 
last day a heavier condemnation — so, resurrection 
will be to the unholy, disobedient, and scornful, an 
- awakening to endless shame and everlasting contempt. 
See then, beloved, the deep personal concern which 
each one has with the truth which this Easter Day 
discloses. A concern beyond that of defending the 
historical fact by elaborate skill; or expounding its 
doctrinal fulness by learned argument. 



The Resurrection. 



297 



A concern which touches each man's hope of 
immortaHty, in the fact that the resurrection of Jesus 
has given to our humanity the element of life — so that 
live forever, in body and soul, we must, and shall. 

Yes, all who share the human nature shall live 
forever, as all who bear that nature have part in 
the redemption which was made in the person of 
the Second Man, the Head of our race. 

All shall live forever ! All shall rise again ! 
Good and bad, saint and sinner, whether they have 
known, or never heard of Jesus — whether they have 
loved, or loathed Him. The infant of a day, and he 
who numbered his nine hundred years of life — all, 
from Adam down to the last that shall feel within 
him the human soul, and bear about the body and 
blood of humanity — all shall live again, and live 
forever. Oh, brother ! the offspring of a common 
Creator, and redeemed by One Sacrifice, does your 
soul move within you to bless such words as these 
which tell of universal life, through One who on this 
day rose from the dead, in our common nature ? 
Bless you the Church, which teaches that universal 
redemption, and universal life, all have who bear 
the tokens of humanity 

Stop one moment, and let us bethink ourselves, 
whether our redemption has been turned to salvation 
by our faith in Jesus, and our life to a life in Heaven 
by holy, hearty, obedience to the w^ill of Jesus. 



298 



The Resurrection. 



You shall live forever, but in what state ? of punish- 
ment, or of glory? You shall rise again — but to 
what portion ? to meet your Saviour, or your aven- 
ging Judge ? Your body shall rise again — but how ? 
with sinful passions unchecked ? with anger, wrath, 
and malice rampant ? 

Oh brother, think again what life is — eternal 
life — life in body, and soul — and then declare to }-our 
conscience with all honesty, does this Easter Day 
bear good tidings to you, when it tells you that }'ou 
shall rise again and live ? It ma}-, it will, if }-ou 
are truly Jesus' disciple. If you have been born 
again of water, and of the Spirit; if you have been 
made a member of His body, of His flesh, and of 
His bones, if you have realized the new life, and 
sustained your noble sonship by acts of daily obedi- 
ence, and of daily penitence when surprised in sin; 
if you have believed Avith the heart the Lord Jesus, 
and confessed with the m^outh that God hath raised 
Him from the dead; if you have become one with 
Him by a death unto the sin of the world, and a new 
birth unto holiness; then, indeed, have you turned the 
privilege of redemption into the blessing of salvation, 
and made the privilege of living forever, deepen into 
the unspeakable bliss of living with God in Heaven. 

Brother in Christ, we shall in God's own time, 
lie down in the grave, but we shall meet there the 
tokens of our Saviour's presence and victory. We 



The Restirrectio7i. 



shall indeed, meet death, for the grave is his own 
house, but we shall meet him as the conquered slave 
of Christ; as the strong man armed, yet bound by 
a stronger than he, who hath come upon him, and 
overcome him. Tell us not then, of the power of 
death, in that he can crumble our mortal bodies into 
earth again; say not, behold his power, in that he 
can scatter our bodies to the winds, or combine 
them with new elements in other forms. 

Yes, Satan can do this, but beside the en%pty 
tomb on this bright Easter Day, we answer — this 
work of reducing our bodies to earth is the work 
of a slave, not of a conqueror. Death cannot retain 
the body placed in his keeping; his work therefore 
is the work of a slave, purifying, by the laborious 
process of the grave, the fine gold of our redeemed 
humanity, from the dross of the primeval curse. 
And when this slave shall have prepared the body 
of the last man for its sleep in the grave, then shall 
the morning of the eternal Easter Day of the Res- 
urrection declare how truly we have described the 
work of Satan. It shall also declare how He Who 
was crucified as a deceiver, has proved the truth, 
not only of the prediction which the Priests cited 
in our text as proof of His deception, but also of 
that greater promise, "Every one which seeth the 
Son, and believeth on Him, shall have everlasting 
life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 



SERMON XXIV. 



THE PRI^XE OF LIFE. 

ACTS III. 15, 16, 

" The Prince of life whom God hath raised fr-oni the dead; ivhereof we 
are witjiesses. And His naf?ie, through faith in His na?ne, hath made this 
man strong who?n ye see and know.''^ 

The Prince of life! what a magnificent title! and 
what magnificent works He who bears it has accom- 
plished for our race. The Prinxe of life! that is, the 
author, the dispenser of life; the Prince of LIFE, that 
is, of that mysterious vital element, which gives to all 
things, and all men, in body as well as soul, whatever 
they have of strength, or loveliness, or permanency. 

Who is it that bears the title It is He, saith St. 
Peter, ''Whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof 
we are witnesses." 

There could be no mistake in the application of 
this title by the Apostles, for they were witnesses to 
the world that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Who had 
been crucified, dead and buried, was risen again. And 
so far as the historic fact of the resurrection is con- 
cerned, the testimony of these first twelve is good for 
all ages and generations of men. 

That Jesus, then, was the Prince of life, was placed 



The Prince of Life. 



301 



beyond doubt in the Apostolic age by the witness of 
the Apostles themselves. But how is it with us at 
this day ? Is there no true sense in which we of this 
age may witness to ourselves, and to the world, that 
Jesus is the Prince of life ? ]\Iust we in all respects 
go back to the testimony of the twelve, in order to 
assure ourselves that a risen, living Saviour is among 
us ? 

We Christians at this day ought to be able to give 
effective testimony to the glorious truth that Jesus 
hath risen again, and is^ — not was — but is "the Prince 
of life." 

There is no need to alter a line, or letter of the 
text in its transfer from St. Peter's and St. John's 
day to our own; for before their consciences, and the 
world, all true Christian disciples of the day must 
refer all the phenomena of true life to Him, the 
author of life, Jesus Christ, "the Prince of life. Whom 
God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are wit- 
nesses." The subject which the text suggests, and 
which I would like to study awhile with you, is just 
this — that Christians of every age, are witnesses to 
that age, that Jesus is "the Prince of life, Whom God 
hath raised from the dead." The resurrection of 
Christ is a perpetual, ever-living fact of the evangel- 
ical faith. 

Not only is it argumentatively a fact on which re- 
poses the whole superstructure of the Christian relig- 



302 



The Prince of Life. 



ion, the key-stone of the royal arch which supports 
the majestic mediatorial throne of a greater than 
Solomon, but it is practically the underlying fact 
of all personal, vital godliness; of all appeals to its 
practice, and of all efforts after its acquirement or 
increase. 

If Christ be not risen, Christianity as a system is 
a fable, and the Christian life as a personal matter, a 
simple impossibility — our faith is vain, and we are yet 
in our sins. It is of as essential importance, then, to 
you and me, of this nineteenth century, as it was to 
the men of the first century, to KNOW that Jesus 
Christ hath risen again, and thus become the Prince 
of life, the Saviour of the world. And I think it just 
as fair for the unbelievers of this century, as for those 
of the first century to demand proof from witnesses 
that Jesus is the Prince of life! Yes, witnesses, not 
the reporters of the witness of others, not merely the 
reporters of the testimony of what Peter and John, 
and Mary Magdalene and the other Maries saw, and 
heard, and felt and knew, but the testifiers to what 
they themselves have felt and known. But say you, 
^no man at this day has seen the crucified Jesus emerge 
from the rocky sepulchre 

I answer, no man, of any day, ever witnessed the 
actual resurrection of the buried Jesus. The testi- 
mony of Apostles, the testimony of all, is the testi- 
mony to a risen, not rising Jesus. But it is again 



The Prince of Life. 



303 



said, they who saw Him with their bodily eyes, and 
heard Him with their bodily ears, knew certainly 
that Jesus was risen again. I answer, that a deeper, 
and more soul-satisfying knowledge of a risen Christ 
comes to us independently of the physical senses. 

1st. Because the disciples on their way to Emmaus, 
though they saw, and heard, did not know Jesus, un- 
til He broke the bread. 2nd. Because Christ Him- 
self said, Blessed are they that have not seen, and 
yet have believed"; and, 3rd. St. Paul could say 
** Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet 
now henceforth know we Him no more," all going to 
show that whatever knowledge of the mere personal 
identity of Jesus of Nazareth might come through the 
outward senses, the real, heart-knowledge, after all, 
may be — must be secured without this sensual agency. 
Of course we accept the testimony of those who ate 
and drank with Jesus, that He was the very one who 
- was crucified and buried; but after all, when that fact 
is proved, is that all that is necessary to make us feel 
that Jesus is the Prince of life } Was that all that 
was necessary in the Apostolic age, to make a man 
a true Christian } 

Is Christianity a mere thing of the past, a mere 
matter of history } And is every man a Christian 
who believes the facts in the history of Jesus to be 
as true as those in the history of Augustus Caesar, or 
any other important personage ? Nay, the heart, 



304 



The Prince of Life. 



rather than the intellect, is the seat of true religion, 
and that system which cannot pass beyond the mere 
citation of certain indisputable facts, even if they are 
miraculous facts, falls far short of the Gospel of Jesus. 
The historical facts of religion are only the outward and 
visible signs of the inward and spiritual grace of a liv- 
ing, life-giving Lord. And the man who looks upon 
these facts without regard to this inward power, misses 
the heart of Christianity; he does not know what it is. 

Now, that inward power which accompanies an 
ever-living Lord, is exerted here to-day, just as cer- 
tainly, just as fully, just as unmistakably as it was 
when the lame man who lay at the beautiful gate of 
the temple, was healed in the Apostolic age. And 
there are now those whose duty, and privilege, and 
right it is, to stand forth in the presence of an unbe- 
lieving world, and declare that the only source of 
spiritual life, the only Saviour from death, the only 
hope of the world is in Jesus, the ''Prince of life, Whom 
God raised from the dead, whereof WE are WITNESSES." 

O, brothers in Christ, Christian disciples, your mis- 
sion in the world is to testify to the presence, power, 
and love of a risen, ever-present Lord, the Author, 
the Prince of life. After you have received the testi- 
mony of others, and proved it to be true by your own 
experience, your duty, your work, your unspeakable 
glory is to go in and out amongst an unbelieving 
generation, as witnesses to Jesus, the Prince of life. 



The Prince of Life, 



305 



You are to tell what you have seen and known of 
Him, how you have eaten and drunk with Him after 
He rose from the dead. You are to tell how a living 
Lord has demonstrated His presence to your soul, by 
raising you from the death of sin, unto a life of right- 
eousness ; how He has been known to you in the 
breaking of bread, in the strengthening and refresh- 
ing of your soul, in the penitent, faithful, loving recep- 
tion of His appointed Sacrament. 

You are to witness, not to a dead Christ, but to a 
living Christ, by your daily life of Christian purity, 
and charity, and hopeful zeal. 

The grand moral argument for a risen Christ is 
the fact of a living Church. The existence here, and 
now, of the mystical body of Christ, instinct with His 
new resurrection life, and working the mighty works 
of evangelical faith, hope, and charity. You, the 
members of that Church, are here to claim for Jesus, 
the Prince of life, all true life, physical or spiritual, 
which exists; which medical, or moral science can de- 
tect or develop. Yes, little as the thought may be 
tolerated by a rationalistic age, I affirm that from 
Jesus, the Great Physician, the Prince of life, comes 
the healing art in Christian lands, with its wondrous 
power to curb and to control diseases. 

The wards of our medical hospitals are witnesses 
to a risen, living, and life-giving Lord, as certainly 
as are the churches. When the adorable Master said, 



3o6 



TJie Prince of Life. 



^'All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth," 
He left no power, of earth or heaven, which was not 
included; the power to heal the earth-born body, as 
well as the power to absolve from sin the heaven- 
breathed spirit of man. 

And when He bade His disciples go forth on their 
world-wide mission of love, it was not only to preach 
a Gospel in which faith and baptism had a part, but a 
Gospel in which these words also had a share — "They 
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." 

The healing of the sick, as well as the purification 
of the soul by faith, belongs to the Prince of life, to 
Him Who is the author of life, physical and spir- 
itual. And His presence, therefore, is witnessed by 
the progress of medical science in Christian lands 
since the resurrection of Christ, just as certainly as 
in the spiritual power which has gone forth among 
men since that day. Jesus, by His Spirit, gives us 
life — He makes the sick man to feel again the joy of 
health, and the sin-sick soul the higher joy of the new 
life of peace, and pardon, and love. 

Jesus is the Prince of life! God hath raised Him 
from the dead, whereof we are witnesses; whether 
we like it or not, we are witnesses. For in every 
triumph of medical skill of which we have been the 
subjects or witnesses, we have seen the power of a 
risen, living Lord. 

And in every change from sin to holiness, or ad- 



The Prince of Life. 



30; 



vance from one degree of sanctity and spiritual power 
to another, of which we have Hkewise been the sub- 
jects or witnesses, we have also seen the presence 
of a risen Lord, Jesus the Prince of life. 

Come forth then, brothers in Christ, and be not 
ashamed to bear testimony, both by lip and life, to 
the world's Saviour and only hope, the risen Lord, 
Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Let us not mistake or 
underrate our glorious mission, which, over and 
above the question of our personal sanctification, 
may gain honor to Him Who loved us and th'e 
world even unto death. By all the signs of a risen 
Saviour's power, give forth the strong testimony to 
His presence; by your fraternal charity, your unself- 
ishness, let all the world see that a new life has 
been infused into the corrupt body of our humanity, 
and that Jesus Christ crucified, is risen again, and is 
the true, the only Prince of life. 

And let us not restrict our mission merely to 
claiming for Jesus those miracles in the domain of 
spirit, which the soul's new life, refreshed and 
strengthened, exhibits; but let us do as did the 
Apostles in the text — claim for Jesus the source of 
all miracles within the domain of physical life, which 
some might claim for medical science alone, apart 
from a risen Prince of life. All health to body or 
soul is from Him as its author, and back to Him 
as its giver should all laud and honor be rendered. 



308 



The Pi'ince of Life. 



No matter what be the agencies by which the 
Prince of life manifests His power, whether by the 
physician's drugs or the surgeon's instruments for 
the body, the ministerial teaching or the sacra- 
mental offices for the soul, the great point to be 
affirmed is the' truth that Jesus, whom God hath 
raised from the dead, is the Prince of life, and that 
we Christians stand ready to make good our dec- 
laration that we are witnesses." 

Oh, men of the world, indifferent, unbelieving, or 
undecided, hear our testimony: in the hour of sick- 
ness, in the hour of temptation, we have prayed to 
Jesus and been delivered. The healing art is His 
gift, and His benediction has made it what it is in 
our Christian land and day. The healing of the soul 
is His gift; and His benediction has given to peni- 
tence, and purity, and faith, the glorious company 
of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, 
the nobly army of Martyrs, and all of every degree 
who have been enabled to live a saintly and a Chris- 
tian life. 

Oh brothers, not yet the avowed disciples of the 
risen Lord, in Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eu- 
charist, may you have grace during this Easter-tide 
to lay aside faithlessness and indecision, and to come 
out boldly before God and the Church and say. We 
believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the 
Prince of life, for He hath given unto us a new life; 



The Prince of Life. 



309 



and in our personal experience of a resurrection from 
sin to holiness we assure ourselves that God hath 
raised Him from the dead, therefore, we too will take 
our place among the hosts of God's elect, and boldly 
say *'we are witnesses." 



SERMON XXV. 



BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD. 

I COR. XV. 29, 

'■^ Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead 
rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?^'' 

From the profoundest critic to the humblest Chris- 
tian the passage which speaks of being baptized for 
the dead has arrested attention, and in many cases, 
both among the erudite and those undiscipHned in 
the learning of the schools, it has defied every effort 
to evolve a meaning consistent with the Apostle's 
argument, consonant with historical facts, and satis- 
factory to the judgment. These words of the Apostle 
have claimed too, an abiding place in the memory, 
even when rejected by the understanding; and per- 
haps the experience of some may bear me out in the 
assertion, that with a conscious inability to settle 
in the mind their exact interpretation,* they have 
still fallen upon the ear with a strange sense of com- 
fort; and as if in violation of the ordinary rules which 
require that the mind be impressed through the 
avenue of the understanding, they have wrought a 
mysterious consolation in the soul, in spite of their 



Baptism for the Dead. 



not being understood; as the ancient Israelite re- 
ceived comfort when gazing on* the thick darkness 
of the pillar of cloud, for though hidden from mortal 
vision he felt that his God was there. 

There are special reasons too why we of all who 
bear the name of Christians, have the words of the 
text often before us. They are associated in our 
minds with that majestic service which, claiming the 
admiration of the Christian world, is the Church's 
requiem for the dead. 

When gathered in sad sympathy we bring the 
lifeless body of the loved one into the sanctuary, 
and at the bidding of that Holy Mother who loves 
her children, living or dead, with a mother's love, we 
listen to the soul-stirring argument of St. Paul in 
the fifteenth chapter of Corinthians, how has the 
heart of the mourner, hitherto wholly absorbed in 
grief, been arrested as with a strange sensation of 
comfort he listened to what he felt to be, though 
the understanding could not say why, the triumphant 
argument contained in the language of the text. 

It would be an affectation of learning to say that 
the most thorough investigation of this passage of 
St. Paul's writings can definitely settle its certain 
interpretation; and yet without going into a critical 
investigation, which would be out of place here, I 
think, after a brief review of some of the most promi- 
nent interpretations given, we can settle upon one 



Baptism for the Dead, 



which at least will give a clear, intelligent, and per- 
haps universally satisfactory meaning. 

Where no specific interpretation of God's Holy 
Book has been ruled by the Church universal, there 
is a fair arena for the exercise of private judgment; 
and though different expositions may claim different 
degrees of authority, accordingly as they conform more 
exactly to the analogy of faith and to the canons of 
sound reason, still the best interpretation in every 
such case cannot rise to the certainty of unerring 
accuracy. With these preparatory remarks I shall 
with God's blessing proceed to set before you several 
of the more prominent expositions of the passage, 
reserving that which seems to have the highest au- 
thority for the last. The words of the Apostle are 
as follows: "Else what shall they do which are 
baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? 
Why are they then baptized for the dead } " 

The whole difficulty in this passage is connected 
with that single expression — Baptized for the dead." 
What does it mean } This is the question to which 
several answers have been given. For according to 
its settlement has the interpretation of the whole pas- 
sage varied. Let us proceed as briefly as possible to 
consider these various answers. And in doing this 
no one need be in the least confused by the variety 
of explanations, for after all, the last interpretation is 
the only one on which I shall ask you to repose your 



Baptism for the Dead. 



313 



confidence. Now the first explanation of these words 
which I bring to your notice, is that which would 
make the expression ''baptized for the dead"" equiva- 
lent to baptized for Christ Who, if the Resurrection be 
not true, is still dead. 

In other words, this interpretation would suppose 
the Apostle arguing against those Corinthians Avho 
though tliey had been admitted into the Church b\' 
this holy Sacrament, still, from the influence around 
them, denied, or doubted, the Resurrection; and by 
their own act of being baptized showing the absurdity 
of their doubts. As though he said — you deny, or 
cavil at the Resurrection; why then are you baptized ? 
— Christ is still dead, if the Resurrection be not true — ■ 
why then are you baptized for a dead Christ — wh}' 
are you dedicated in the name of One Who instead of 
living in heaven, is still dead and unable to help you ? 
This interpretation, though sanctioned by high au- 
thority, is liable to objections from the construction 
of the original language. The expression is not "bap- 
tized for the dead person, or dead (9/76^ "— -but for " the 
dead " — a plural expression signifying the dead in 
general. We therefore dismiss this interpretation as 
unsatisfactory. 

The next exposition of the passage is that Vv'hich 
gives the expression ''baptized for the dead" a fig- 
urative or metaphorical meaning. It is well known 
that the term "baptism"" is used to express suffer- 



314 



Baptisjn for the Dead. 



ings, and martyrdom, or violent death. When the 
sons of Zebedee were brought to Christ (their mother 
claiming for them the highest posts of honor in the 
Messiah's kingdom) He asked if they were willing 
to suffer and die for Him, by proposing the question 
" Are ye able to be baptized with the baptism that 
I am baptized with ? " Among the ancient fathers 
too, we frequently meet with a metaphorical appli- 
cation of the term baptism," they speaking of " mar- 
tyrdom " as ''the baptism of blood." According to 
this interpretation then, the Apostle's argument would 
run thus — ''What shall they do which are baptized 
for the dead " that is, (which suffer violent persecu- 
tion and martyrdom in belief and expectation of the 
resurrection of the dead) — "if the dead rise not at 
all?" " Why are they then baptized in afflictions, in 
hope of the resurrection of the dead t " This has 
eminent authority to sustain it. I will only say, 
that to give a metaphorical sense to a passage of 
Holy Scripture when the literal sense is possible 
and reasonable, is contrary to one of the plainest 
rules of Biblical interpretation; besides that this in- 
terpretation does not meet fairly the difficulty which 
most minds find in that expression "baptized FOR 
THE DEAD." To give it a figurative meaning, and 
say, martyred in hope of the resurrection of the dead 
is a sound enough sentiment, but after all it looks 
more like avoiding than encountering the difficulty. 



Baptism for the Dead. 



315 



We therefore reject the metaphorical interpreta- 
tion as unsatisfactory. 

There is another view of this passage which claims 
respect from- the fact that it numbers among its hold- 
ers some of the earlier Christian writers, as well as 
learned men of modern times. This view takes the 
expression baptized for the dead" literally, and 
refers it to an alleged custom of having some per- 
son baptized in the hope of benefiting one who 
had died without baptism. On tliis interpretation 
the language of St. Paul would mean as follows: 
What shall they do who are baptized for the ben- 
efit of the unbaptized dead, if the dead rise not at 
all ? How useless, how absurd the practice, if there 
is no resurrection of the dead." In regard to this, 
the best answer is that no such custom as the in- 
terpretation presupposes, can be shown to have ex- 
isted during the days of the Apostles, while there 
is no authority in Holy Scripture for believing that 
any action of ours, whether prayers, sacraments, or 
sacrifices can change the irrevocable destiny of those 
who have passed beyond the limit of this mortal 
life. 

That after the days of the Apostles there was 
such a custom, as baptizing a living person over the 
dead body of an unbaptized person, is readily granted, 
for history proves it; but that any such custom existed 
in the Apostle's day has not been shown, and never 



3i6 Baptism for the Dead. 

can be. It is easy enough to account for the cus- 
tom which sprung up in later days, for the words 
of the Apostle in the text may have been wrested 
as authority for such a practice. 

Let me now propose to you an interpretation 
which, taking the words in their natural mean- 
ing, and without depending on doubtful customs, or 
questionable practices, unfolds a sentiment in ac- 
cordance with the train of argument pursued by 
the Apostle, and one which suggests some practical 
thoughts. 

The Apostle is arguing on the resurrection of the 
dead; he is anxious to show from various sources 
not only the good grounds for the conviction which 
they entertained that the dead should rise, but the 
strength of their conviction. He has already met 
the cavilling Christians of Corinth with the proof of 
the resurrection derived from the case of Christ Him- 
self, and he now appeals to what is transpiring around 
them, as evidence of the universality and certainty 
of all true Christians holding to this great article 
of the Creed. If there be no resurrection of the 
dead, if when we die all is at an end, what shall 
they do who are baptized for the dead, that is in 
the place of the dead ? what mean the baptisms 
which are daily going on, by which the places va- 
cated by death are constantly filled up ? If the 
dead rise not, why are they then baptized for — that 



Baptism for the Dead. 



317 



is, in the place of — the dead. Does not the very fact, 
that we keep on baptizing new converts, in the room 
of those who are constantly dying, show that we 
most certainly adhere to that great truth of the 
Creed ? What folly, what absurdity would it be, to 
be perpetuating by baptism the succession of mem- 
bers of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the 
kingdom of heaven, if that great article of the 
Church's Creed, the resurrection, were false, and 
the dead should never rise again. 

This is the interpretation which meets every dif- 
ficulty in the passage, and when attentively pon- 
dered on, and carried out in the mind, may give a 
satisfactory meaning to this obscure passage. By 
this explanation every word in the text is taken 
literally. " Baptized for the dead " means just what 
it says, to receive the sacrament for, that is, in the 
place of, instead of the dead, those who have de- 
parted this life. 

The idea being simply this, the doctrine of the 
Resurrection is clearly taught and professed every 
time a person is baptized, for that person is bap- 
tized into the number of God's children, in order 
to perpetuate that number which is constantly di- 
minished by the inroads of death. 

The Church is composed of members on earth, and 
of those invisible in Paradise; death removes one 
from the visible, militant Church, but we still keep 



318 



Baptism for the Dead. 



up the number by putting another in his place by 
baptism. Thus showing that those who have died 
are not lost, but gone before, — not annihilated, but 
still the conscious members of the Church of the 
Living God; members, though invisible, of that so- 
ciety into which they were introduced by Holy Bap- 
tism, and which we perpetuate by the constant 
administration of this Sacrament. 

Perhaps the main difficulty in the phrase Bap- 
tized for the dead" lies in the single word "FOR." 
This word may, to some, have conveyed the notion, 
that to be baptized for the dead must mean to re- 
ceive this holy sacrament for the benefit of the dead. 
But I need not say that the word *'for" means in 
the place, of, instead of, just as often as it means 
**for the benefit" of a person. And this interpretation 
will become perfectly clear, if we take the Apostle's 
language and apply it to the present day; which, 
after all, may prove the very best mode of conveying 
the clearest meaning of the text. Now, the lan- 
guage of the Apostle Paul is just as applicable at 
this day, and to this congregation, as eighteen hun- 
dred years ago to the Church at Corinth. If there 
should be any one here who impeaches the doctrine 
of the Resurrection, the argument of the text is one 
which we should use — ''What shall they do, which 
are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all } 
Why are they then baptized for the dead t " 



Baptism for the Dead. 319 

If the doctrine of the Resurrection be false, the 
administration of the Sacrament of Baptism which 
you so often witness in this temple, is a mere ab- 
surdity and useless form. For by that Sacrament 
we are perpetuating the Christian society, baptizing 
new members for, or in place of, those that are con- 
stantly being removed by death — and all for nothing. 
That we do thus baptize, that the Church universal 
does thus fill up her ranks by new baptisms, where 
death has made vacancies, that the Church universal 
does thus baptize for, in the room of, the dead, is 
a demonstration of her certainty in that article of 
her Creed, -believe in the resurrection of the 
dead." 

But this interpretation admits of a farther eluci- 
dation. Is any one here perplexed by the expres- 
sion baptized for the dead " } Then I say, you your- 
self are an instance of one being baptized for the 
dead. Every baptized person here present has been 
baptized for the dead. Who occupied these seats, 
and who stood in this pulpit, forty years ago } Are 
all they who then worshipped within these vener- 
able walls still here .-^ We all know this is not so; 
they are, most of them, dead; and yet the num- 
ber of worshippers is kept up. How is this t Surely 
we who of a later generation have grown up in 
their place — we are here for, in the place of, our 
fathers. 



320 



Baptism for the Dead. 



They were baptized, worshipped God, and died; 
we have been baptized, and now in their places wor- 
ship where they worshipped; and when we die, al- 
ready our children have been baptized for us, to take 
our places. The baptism for the dead is continually 
progressing. The aged saint that now totters on the 
verge of the grave has, in. his offspring, one already 
baptized for him; his name, when dead, may be 
stricken from the roll of visible members of the 
Church militant, but in his stead the name of his 
baptized child shall be inserted. 

So throughout the world, the ranks of the Church, 
though continually changing, are not diminished. 
As in the well-fought battle, the prudent general or- 
ders his ranks so that the place of every fallen soldier 
shall be supplied, that no break in the lines shall be 
apparent, though the death sleet falls with terrific vio- 
lence, and the ground is covered with the slain; so in 
the battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
the Captain of our salvation has so ordered that the 
onset of the great enemy Death shall not break the 
ranks of the sacramental host of God's elect. From 
the day that Christ breathed on His Apostles, and 
gave His promise, ''I am with you alway, even to the 
end of the world " — down through all the changes of 
eighteen centuries, the front which the Catholic 
Church has presented to the world has been unbroken. 
This day the Apostles have their successors to stand 



Baptism for the Dead. 



321 



before us, as under Christ, the leaders of the host; 
whilst we this day stand in the place of our departed 
brethren to battle for the faith. The ranks of the 
Apostolic line have been constantly attacked by death, 
but as fast as one mitred head has been laid low, 
another bearing aloft the commission of Christ stepped 
into his place. And so, too, the thousands that heard 
St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, and the mil- 
lions that heard of Jesus by the trumpet tones 
of the Apostle of the Gentiles, have given their 
bodies to the tomb; yet others have stood in their 
place, till we now keep up the line — ''Baptized for 
the dead." 

And till that day, when the Son of man shall ap- 
pear a second time, and complete the promise, ''I am 
with you alway, even to the end of the world" — the 
ranks of Apostles, of the inferior ministry, and of the 
laity, in spite of death, shall remain unbroken. We 
have a mysterious remedy for the effects of death. 
We have a power given us by God Himself by which 
we not only declare His glory, and constantly main- 
tain the great doctrine of the Christian faith, Christ 
crucified and risen, but by which we laugh to scorn 
the inroads of the adversary when he sends the pesti- 
lence or the persecution to destroy our ranks. 

We shall transmit that power to those who come 
after us, as it has been handed to us from the begin- 
ning. Death may boast of his grave — we triumph in 



322 



Baptism for the Dead. 



the Font, the laver of regeneration. Death may glory 
in his power to number the saints among the dead — 
Ave triumph in the power to perpetuate them in the 
glorious truth of Baptism for the dead." In some 
way like this, may your minds prove that the inter- 
pretation which I offer you as the best, is also the 
most satisfactory. No vain custom, no questionable 
practice, no metaphorical interpretation will we be- 
lieve when we read or hear this part of the Apostle's 
argument. With him, we will hold to the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, as identified with the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ, and knowing that if Christ be not 
raised our faith is vain. With St. Paul therefore we 
will go on baptizing for the dead, continually keep- 
ing up the ranks which Death seeks vainly to break. 
We will bring our children to the holy Font, and there 
as we see them received into the ranks of God's elect, 
we will recognize them as baptized for the dead — bap- 
tized to stand in our places, and for us, when death has 
called us from our post here, to our rest in Paradise. 
They will stand for us, as we now stand for those who 
have gone before. Their voices will be heard taking up 
the declaration which we have this day uttered — the 
prolonged echo of the sainted dead of eighteen hundred 
years^" I believe in the resurrection of the dead." Thus 
thinking, and thus believing, let us pass on, cherishing 
the consolation that we, with our fathers and children, 
justified by the faith, and sealed with the Baptism of 



Baptism for the Dead. 



323 



Christ, shall once again assemble not for *Hhe bap- 
tism for the dead " — for the sacred line shall then be 
completed — but to enjoy the sacrament of life, in the 
presence, and from the fulness of Him Who is the 
source of life everlasting. 



SERMON XXVI. 



THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ASCENSION. 

ST. JOHN VI. 62. 

' What and if ye shall see the Son of 77ian ascend up where He was 
before ? " 

Among all the glorious revelations which, under 
the evangelical dispensation, appeal to our hopes and 
encourage us in our earthly struggles, there are none 
more animating than those which spring from the fact 
of the Ascension of our Lord. The Gospel is not 
complete without this stupendous mystery; we should 
have no good news to tell if it were not an article of 
the faith — "He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on 
the right hand of God the Father Almighty." The 
birth, life, and death of Christ do not embrace the full 
outline of God's love to man; they do not, either 
as facts or doctrines, comprehend the complete circle 
of what He did for the salvation of the world. The 
humiliation, sufferings, and atonement of the Incarnate 
Son of God, do not form the whole truth as it is in 
Jesus. If your thoughts, your hopes, or your instruc- 
tions stop with the cross, or the sepulchre, you have 
yet to learn why Christ suffered upon the one and 



The CoJisequences of the Ascension. 325 



rose again from the other. If you have only learned 
the truths of Redemption and Justification, but have 
not yet mastered those concerning the sanctification 
and exaltation to- glory conferred upon our humanity, 
you have yet to learn the loftiest, most inspiring dis- 
closure of the Gospel dispensation. 

''What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend 
up where He was before } " It is Jesus Who puts 
this question, but leaves its answer for those who 
heed it. It is a question which will force every 
thoughtful person who hears it to systematize his 
thoughts on this stupendous event, — to see what it 
involves, how it bears upon Christ, and upon our- 
selves whose nature Christ assumed. It is a question 
w^hich taught those who first heard it a truth, the 
forgetfulness of which has rent Christendom with 
the bitterest controversy, and- made the holy feast 
which awaits us at God's altar a sign of unfraternal 
discord, instead of heavenly, heart-pervading love. 

The original connection of the text is with Christ's 
discourse about eating His flesh and drinking His 
blood. Jesus had just said to them, " Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of 
man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you," 
and many- of His disciples had exclaimed, ''This is an 
hard saying, who can hear it.'^" It was by way of 
meeting their difficulty, and opening the true and 
spiritual view of His words, and setting at rest forever 



326 The Consequences of the Ascension. 

the untrue and carnal view, that He added, Doth 
this offend you ? What and if ye shall see the Son of 
man ascend up where He was before?" 

In other words the Ascension of Christ is the true 
key to the explanation of His words as to eating His 
flesh, and drinking His blood. For, inasmuch as this 
marvellous incorporation with Christ was to continue 
after He had ascended in His human nature to the 
right hand of the Father, its spiritual, as distinguished 
from its carnal meaning, which had offended His 
hearers, would be manifest. The first answer, there- 
fore, which we make to the question of the Master — 
*'What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend 
up where He was before.?" — is this: the Ascension 
demonstrates that when Christ speaks of eating His 
flesh and drinking His blood, He is speaking words 
which are spirit as they are life; that He is unfolding 
a spiritual, not carnal act; and that He is appealing 
to our faith, not to our bodily sense, that He is pro- 
viding food to strengthen and refresh us, after that 
celestial and spiritual character which will fit us to 
rise, ascend, and live with the second Adam in glory, 
when all that appertains to our union with the first 
Adam shall have been crucified, dead, and buried. 
The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, received, 
as we are compelled by testimony unimpeachable to 
receive it, as a literal fact, as the transfer of our 
Master's human nature to the throne of glory is, 



The Consequences of the Ascension. ^i^'j 

strange as the assertion may appear, the heavenly 
mystery which throws light upon the earthly mystery 
of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. As the 
sun, of whose mysterious orb we have no certain 
knowledge, enables us, by its light, to explore the 
mysteries of this earth, so the mysterious fact that 
Christ as the Son of man, with the perfection of His 
human nature, is in Heaven, casts down its spiritual 
effulgence upon the duty which is to be discharged 
by every faithful disciple to the end of the world, 
and which the words preceding the text aflirm, ''As the 
living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, 
so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." 

Oh, then, as we let our minds wander over the 
fruitful source of strife, which this eating of Christ has 
become by occasion of our sinful, earthly thoughts, 
let us seek to promote peace and love and union, by 
withdrawing our thoughts, and those of our brethren, 
from all carnal speculations on the mystery, and by 
fixing them on Him Who, not in appearance only, 
but in reality, not as a phantom, but in body and soul 
as Man, has actually ascended from the earth to the 
right hand of God, and Who, as the living Son of 
man, is still calling upon us to become one with Him 
by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Earthly, 
carnal, physical ideas will intrude if you think of Christ 
as only having lived eighteen hundred years ago, but 
spiritual, heavenly ideas will connect themselves with 



328 The Consequences of the Ascension. 

eating Christ, if you think of Christ as actually 
ascended — now living, now speaking to you from 
Heaven, and fitting you by incorporation with Him, 
for a spiritual life with Him in glory. 

''What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend 
up where He was before?" this will be one result — a 
belief in our spiritual life, sustained by a spiritual union 
with Him ! the belief that when He tells us of eating 
His flesh and drinking His blood, ''It is the Spirit 
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing — the 
words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they 
are life." 

But let us again turn to the text, and placing 
ourselves as those whom the Master addresses, let us 
carefully reflect upon some of the other consequences 
which must follow if we do truly receive the great fact 
of the Ascension. 

We know that He Who was born of the Blessed 
Virgin, Who as a boy of twelve years old was in the 
temple, Who after the fast in the wilderness was an 
hungered, Who sat beside the well of Sychar, Who 
wept and loved and suffered as we do. Who went 
about doing good, and was made a Man of sorrows by 
the ingratitude of those He loved. Who finally died 
upon the cross, and was buried, — we know, I say, with 
all the certainty of historic truth, that this same Jesus, 
this Son of man, this Brother of ours in flesh and 
blood, and human sympathies, and feeling, has as- 



The Consequences of the Ascension. 329 



cended to the right hand of glory, and been invested 
with all the power in Heaven and earth which be- 
longed to the Eternal Son before He assumed our na- 
ture into union with the Divine. 

But what follows from this truth ? What conclu- 
sion do you draw, as thoughtful people, as those 
whose reason as well as faith, Christ and His min- 
isters may appeal to ? Did you ever think about 
the Ascension as involving any conclusion, logical 
or theological, at all ? Has this great fact been to 
you only a stupendous event in the history of Christ 
for your wonder, for your faith but not for your 
sanctified reason to ponder on, to draw conclusions 
from ? Have you said to yourselves, Christ ascended 
— that is an article of the faith, and we profess it in 
the Creed — is not that enough for a Christian con- 
gregation to do ? Xo, it is not enough; our divine 
Master Himself being Judge, for He pushed the in- 
quiry, "What and if ye shall see the Son of man 
ascend?" and therefore, I press upon you all, the 
inquiry, what practical consequences flow from this 
great fact ? I press this upon all, not upon Christians 
only, not upon the baptized, confirmed, communing 
members of Christ only, not upon the faithful, and 
obedient, and humble Christians only, but I say to 
each one who listens to my words, and understands 
them, what is the Ascension of Christ to you per- 
sonally, if this be, as it is, undoubted history ? Say 



330 



The Consequences of the AsccJision. 



not that it is nothing to you because you do not pro- 
fess to love and serve Christ ; for, my brother, 
whether you love Christ or not, it is a certain fact 
that your own nature has, in the person of Jesus, 
been enthroned at the right hand of the ^Majesty on 
high; and though you be the most degraded, the 
most sinful person upon the earth, you cannot help 
feeling that this mystery concerns you. You may 
degrade your nature until it may seem to be one 
with the brutes that perish, but if that nature be at 
God's right hand, you know that it does not belong 
to the brutes, that it has a higher destiny, that it 
has loftier and nobler powers, that you are sinning 
against yourself as well as against God, if }'ou con- 
tinue to degrade that humanity Avhich is invested 
with divine glory. Oh, that I could have the honest 
attention of those whose consciences tell them that 
they have neglected Christ, their duty, that they are 
living in sin, that they are by secret or open crimes 
or neglect, ruining themselves in soul and body; for 
there is something like an answer to be found in the 
fact of Christ's Ascension to a question which they 
propose, and which they think it hard to answer. 
They say, "What is sin " Sin is, to live so as to 
throw away that glorious privilege at God's right 
hand, which Christ, by His Ascension, won for you. 
Oh, beloved, you hear God's minister tell you day 
after day that you are sinning, and you turn upon him 



The Consequences of the Ascension. 331 

with the question — what is sin ? Hear the answer, 
not in theological or technical terms, which you can 
repeat as well as the minister of God can, not in 
cold, dry, formal words which, coming only from 
the understanding, do not and can never reach the 
heart; but listen to the answer in words which con- 
tain a truth that you can take into your heart. It 
is sin to fix your thoughts, and hopes, and aims 
upon this earth, vv^hen, there at God's right hand, 
your ascended Brother demonstra,tes your true home 
and true position. It is sin, — no matter what the 
outward agencies may be — it is sin which makes you 
think of this life as if it were your true life, when 
there your ascended Saviour, the Son of man as well 
as the Son of God, one with you in all that makes 
you man, points out to you the Eternal Life of 
which you are capable. It is sin, whether by eating 
or drinking, by lust or covetousness, by uncharitable- 
ness or unbelief, by sins of omission or commission, 
you resist that loving Spirit, whom your ascended 
Saviour has sent down, and is ever sending, Who 
draws you away from the abuse of this world, and 
would preserve you in its use, from forfeiting the 
glories which the Ascended Son of man has gained 
for you. You who are living with eye and thought 
fixed upon this earth, lift up your eyes and see that 
the Son of man hath ascended and sits in glory, 
and listen to the truth which concerns you as mLKli 



332 The Consequences of the Ascension. 

as it does the holiest saint that ever trod, or ever 
shall tread, the earth. For if the saint be a man, 
then his nature and yours are one, and your hopes 
are one, if you will rouse yourself to assert them and 
strive for them. Say not that you are doomed to 
sin and its consequences; there is no doom of that 
sort which your own lips do not originate. The 
sentence which Christ, Who took upon Him your 
flesh and blood, has pronounced, is full of love and 
exaltation for you if you will not resist this love, 
and fling aside the ladder by which you may mount 
to this exaltation. To those, therefore, who are yet 
living in sin, who have no hopefulness of being de- 
livered from their unholy course, I speak and say, 
Christ's Ascension, in the very nature in which you 
share, is a sign of love, a token of your true destiny, 
a demonstration that if you will open your heart to 
His Spirit, even now calling you to repentance and 
amendment of life, you shall be partaker with Him 
in glory, even sit with Him in His throne. Once 
again, we direct our thoughts to the consequences 
of the Ascension of Jesus, and we put the question, 
"What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend 
up where He was before } " 

There are many books, learned and unlearned, 
nowadays, which freely criticise the words and acts 
of Jesus, and seek to cast discredit on His divine 
nature and to shake our faith in His divine mission 



The Consequences of the Ascejtsion. 333 

and atonement. The increased demand for sacred 
literature, the multiplication of Biblical students, the 
freedom with which theories of inspiration are pro- 
pounded, and the freedom with which they, and some- 
thing holier and deeper than theories, are treated, 
have led to the open and familiar discussion of many 
points connected with our Master's history and mission 
which before were confined to the limits of the stu- 
dent's library. And one often hears questions pro- 
pounded, which intimate plainly enough, doubt on 
certain points involving the integrity of the Gospel 
history, and of the divinity of Him who is their sub- 
ject. If He, the Teacher of truth and the Sufferer on 
the cross, has ascended, if He is at God's right hand, 
if He has been glorified with the glory which He had 
before the world was, hath not the attestation of God 
been impressed with its imperishable seal upon the 
atonement of His Incarnate, only-begotten Son, if 
the Son of God and Son of Man is enthroned in glory 

All that Jesus promised, all that He predicted, all 
that He revealed, all that He consummated, living or 
dying, at Bethlehem or on Calvary — all has been 
affirmed and confirmed by the fact of the Ascension, 
in connection with the Resurrection of our Lord. To 
the doubting, the perplexed, I offer therefore as an- 
other consequence of the Ascension, this consolatory 
truth as a solution of their doubts and perplexities. 
Whether Christ were more than man, His work a 



334 '^^^^ Consequences of the Ascension. 

propitiation for our sins, His words eternal truth, can 
be best discussed beside an empty sepulchre, and with 
Heaven opened by the retreating form of the ascend- 
ing Jesus. 

''What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend?" 
The answer from every honest, though hitherto doubt- 
ing, mind must be: If we shall see that, then He is 
very God as well as very Man — His word eternal 
truth. His sacrifice an all-sufficient atonement for the 
sin of the world. 

And now, in conclusion, let the question of the 
text be once more proposed — "What and if ye shall 
see the Son of man ascend up where He was before 1 " 
I have offered these words as indicative of comfort to 
Christians divided as to how they shall eat and drink 
Christ's Body and Blood; to sinners who have thought 
themselves beyond hope or encouragement; and to 
those who have tarried to their discomfort, amid the 
distracting criticisms on holy things which disfigure 
much of our modern religious literature. O, what 
comfort does this Ascension of our Master give to 
those who do not seek to dispute about holy things, 
who know and confess their sins, who do not pretend 
to explain all possible critical difficulties in the frame- 
work of the faith, but who maintain the faith itself, 
as the sheet-anchor of the soul in the driving storm 
which tosses them up and down on the waves of this 
troublesome world. 



The Consequences of the Ascension. 335 

O Christian, striving to follow Christ in your daily 
life, clinging to His cross by faith in its all-sufficient 
sacrifice, feeding upon Christ by constant meditation 
on His ^Dromises, and the reception of the holy Sacra- 
ments — Christian disciple, seeking to live by Christ's 
life, humbly believing that such a spiritual life there 
is, and deriving spiritual power and vitality by taking 
Christ's words and promises and revelations as your 
infallible guide — declare to yourselves how this mys- 
terious fact of the Ascension bears upon you and 
your daily work ! 

What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend 
up where He was before ? " Yes, ye who feel what 
it is to sin even though ye hate sin; to offend Christ 
even though you love Him; to flag in your course, 
even though you deliberately choose it for your life- 
long path. You who do your duty and suffer for it, 
what is it to you, oh Christian disciple — minister or 
layman — that Christ hath ascended ? This is the an- 
swer; it is the guarantee of your final triumph ! You 
may work on hopefully, for you have the aid and 
benediction of One Who with the perfect sympathy of 
man, possesses and dispenses all power in Heaven and 
earth. Our Master is not still dead and buried, but 
lives at God's right hand, and helps us with the royal 
gift of His Holy Spirit. The Christian's work is, there- 
fore, Christ's work. He is the head and we are the 
body; our earthly struggle, whether against sin in 



336 The Consequences of the Ascension. 

our hearts or in the outer world, is the avenue by 
which we, Christ's members, are led by Him to glory. 
What and if the Son of man hath ascended ? This is 
the answer, faithful disciple of Jesus, listen to it, for 
it is in the very words of Jesus Himself — To him 
that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My 
throne, even as I also overcame, and am. set down 
with My Father in His throne. 



SERMON XXVII 



( Whitsunday. ) * 
CHRISTIANS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

ST. JOHN XIV. 1 6, 17. 

And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, 
that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth: Whom the 
world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but 
ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you^ 

No one can read the record of our Master's in- 
structions to His Apostles, prior to His crucifixion, 
without being struck by the earnest and irnpressive 
language in which He refers them to the gift of a 
personal Comforter, which was to be a consequence 
of His departure from this world. If one should pass 
over these records lightly, he might possibly con- 
sider that this gift was some gracious influence, pro- 
tection, or guidance, which the exalted and tri- 
umphant Head of the Christian Church would bestow 
upon His followers; but a careful study discloses that 
the gift to which our Lord alludes is no mere influ- 
ence, but a Person, to whom not only the attribute 
of personality and the office of a personal agent are 
assigned, but Whose original is revealed to be divine, 
as /'proceeding from the Father," and Whose name 



338 C /wis Hans the Temple of the Holy Ghost. 



is declared to be the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. 
Anything farther as to the nature of this divine Per- 
son, than bears upon His office as a Paraclete, Ad- 
vocate and Comforter; or of His mission, than that 
He is to take of the things of Christ and show them 
unto us, abiding with and in us, we are not specifically 
informed; but we are left in no doubt that at some 
period after the Ascension the mission of applying 
Christ's work and teachings would be assumed by a 
divine Person. Upon the fiftieth day after the Res- 
urrection, and the tenth after the Ascension, the 
event occurred which gave to the Christian Church 
her festival of Whitsun-day. Whatever remarkable 
circumstances may have attended the descent of the 
Holy Ghost on the Apostles, we cannot believe 
that if this fact be the fulfilment of Christ's previous 
promise, it has relation only to the sound of a rush- 
ing mighty wind, with the fiery tongue resting upon 
each. In these particulars, exclusively considered, 
the event may be looked upon as simply historic; 
but when you contemplate it as the promised Descent 
of the Comforter, Who was to come, and to abide 
- with and in all believers forever, that event which 
befel the Apostles on this day, amid astounding 
prodigies, must in some way or other become a per- 
manent fact in the history of Christ's disciples to the 
end of the world. 

If the mystery that underlies the rushing wind, 



Christians the Temple of the Holy Ghost. 339 

the flames of fire, and the speaking in tongues, be the 
indwelling in the Apostles of the Holy Ghost the 
Comforter, the descent of the Third Person of the 
one adorable Godhead, that fact is certainly perma- 
nent, because it is the fulfilment of the promise to all 
the faithful; it is part of the Christian's privilege in 
this last and most glorious dispensation of the Gospel. 
It forms his motive to zeal, and purity, and godly 
exertion; the mystery not of the first Pentecost only, 
but of the entire dispensation which is a prolongation 
of Pentecost, the brightening of the day then begun. 

I hope I make myself understood. I do not regard 
the descent of the Holy Ghost on the first Pentecost 
as an antiquated fact, like the deluge for example, 
but rather like the sunrise, the beginning of a fact 
which has as much to do with those who see the 
meridian splendor as with those who witnessed the 
gorgeous tints of the Orient when, amid the "hues 
of the rich unfolding morn," the glorious sun came 
forth, rejoicing like a giant to run his course. Sunrise 
is indeed a fact accomplished with certain signs which 
are peculiar to that fact, but the sun rises to usher 
in the day, and bless all at every hour of the ad- 
vancing day, with his cheering beams and life-giving 
influences. So the descent of the Holy Ghost on 
Pentecost was indeed a fact marked by singular 
prodigies — the fiery tongues, and wind, and earth- 
quake; but it is a fact in which we in this century 



340 Christians the Temple of the Holy Ghost. 



have a direct and personal interest, for it was the 
sunrise of the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of 
life, on the world redeemed by the atoning" work 
of the Incarnate God. But let us pass to a more 
particular exposition of what was perm.anent and 
vital in the event commemorated to-day, and in 
which all Christians in the first age, or in our times, 
have the most momentous concern. 

What then is the peculiar privilege of the indi- 
vidual Christian under the Gospel dispensation ? In 
what does he excel the Jew or the Patriarch ? What 
has Jesus of Nazareth done for man which Moses did 
not do ? You may tell of moral principles developed 
in their fulness, and of injunctions to purity and char- 
ity most ample. You may tell of atonement for sin, 
perfected upon the cross, and of a ceremonial in which 
faith rather than works was to be the energizing ele- 
ment. This and more like it may you tell, as char- 
acteristics of the Gospel, but if you stop with this, 
if you only tell what has been done for us outside of 
us, you have not answered the question of the inquir- 
ing Hebrew either to his satisfaction or according 
to the just requirements of your own faith. For 
when he points you to a privilege which his people 
in their palmy days possessed, of a temple in which 
God dwelt; when he presses home upon }'on the 
greatness and glory of a dispensation in which God, 
Who was infinite and eternal and invisible. Whom 



Christians the Temple of the Holy Ghost. 341 



the heaven of heavens could not contain, did yet, 
after a mysterious manner, vouchsafe to abide be- 
tween the Cherubim, and so to be personally among 
His people Israel; when the Jew bids you declare 
what privilege Christians can affirm equal to this 
which under the Law the ancient people of God pos- 
sessed, he will not be fairly answered until the Chris- 
tian shall declare the mystery of this our Christian 
Pentecost. 

The sons of Abraham after the flesh possessed the 
shadow, the disciples of Christ the substance; they 
were sons of Abraham, we sons of God; they were 
privileged to have God's presence dwelling among 
them; we, God in us. They possessed the privilege 
and glory of a temple in which the eternal God in 
mysterious manner dwelt between the Cherubim; we, 
the infinitely higher privilege and glory of being each, 
individually, a temple of God, the abiding dwelling- 
place of the Holy Ghost. 

Beloved in Christ, let us open our judgments and 
our hearts to the glorious truth which comes to us in 
the festal services of this holy day. The privilege 
. which belongs to us as Christians may be so lofty, 
or the mystery whereby that privilege becomes ours 
may be so intense, as to restrain us from the asser- 
tion and the enjoyment of our evangelical birthright. 
It seems, indeed, too much for mortal lips, even when 
fortified with words of inspiration, to affirm that Christ 



342 Christians the Temple of the Holy Ghost, 



our ascended Head hath given to penitent and faithful 
men power to become sons of God, and the privilege 
of being temples of God, by the personal indwelling 
of the Holy Ghost. 

But in proportion as we speak in unfeigned hu- 
mility and not in fierce debate, our words shall have 
power to rouse our own hearts and those who listen, 
and evoke a livelier song of joy on this high festival 
to the Holy Ghost the Comforter, Who dwelleth with 
and in us, as in His mysterious temple. 

How this peculiar and distinguishing feature of 
the Gospel dispensation is accomplished, except so 
far as the Sacraments are the instrumental channels, 
and penitent and lively faith the qualifications, we 
cannot answer. How God, Who is everywhere, shall 
make the baptized Christian His temple, the chosen 
shrine of His real and personal abode, is not to be 
declared, though the fact itself be revealed and 
firmly believed. How the eternal God of gods, om- 
nipotent and almighty, should be born of a virgin, 
be crucified, dead, and buried, is not to be declared, 
but it is to be believed. When the mystery of the 
Incarnation, the work of the Second Person of the 
Godhead in uniting God to man, shall be explained, 
we shall be ready to explain the further mystery of 
the work of the Third Person of the Godhead, in 
uniting man to God, and making him the temple 
of God. In the mean time I have no argument, which 



Christians the Temple of iJie Holy Ghost. 343 

can reach the logical faculty, to offer, either to explain 
or defend the glorious privilege which on this day, 
in the Descent of the Holy Ghost, belongs to every 
faithful Christian according to the terms of the gra- 
cious Covenant of the Gospel. 

They who have been dwelling since Advent on 
the mysterious mercies wrought for them by the In- 
carnate Second Person of the Trinity, are those 
who can take full comfort in the mysteries this 
day wrought in them, by the indwelling of the 
Third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost the 
Comforter. 

But I have another thought to offer you, with 
which to close our Whitsun-day meditations. 

There is no privilege under the Gospel dispensation 
which does not involve responsibility. In the great- 
ness, the inconceivable exaltation, of the Christian 
disciple, we must be prepared to recognize the fatal 
consequences of deliberate and unrepented neglect 
of the privilege. Whilst to those who will acknowl- 
edge and use the power which God's indwelling 
presence gives to the Christian, the fact that w^e 
are the temples of the Holy Ghost is full of conso- 
lation; to those who despise the privilege and 
continue in sin, the fact itself becomes the occasion 
of deeper guilt and condemnation. It is no light 
matter to be a Christian, to have been born of water 
and of the Spirit, and made members of Christ, the 



344 Christians the Temple of the Holy Ghost, 

children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of 
heaven. No statement of the privilege of the evan- 
gelical blessing can be perfect which does not in- 
clude a view of the responsibilities flowing from the 
loftiness of that privilege. 

For no speculative purpose was it revealed that God 
the Son took upon Him our flesh, and in it atoned for 
the sin of the world. Neither was it declared for curi- 
ous investigation, nor yet for vain self-exaltation, that 
we Christians become "temples of God," and that the 
Holy Ghost dwells in us, but as the basis for the ex- 
hortation to a pure, and holy, and spiritual life. 

Oh, beloved, if this thought were grasped, and we 
led our daily life under the influence of its power, 
would not the history of baptized men and women be 
the record of purity and zeal and self-devotion ? with 
all the frailties and infirmities of nature, would not 
the daily strife go on against sin in every shape, if 
each realized that God the Holy Ghost dwelt with 
and in him, and that wilfully, and without repentance, 
to defile the dwelling place of God would ensure de- 
struction.? There is power, then, in the doctrine 
which is taught on this great festival, to encourage 
and to v/arn; to gift the faithful Christian with com- 
fort unearthly and most enduring; to plant in the soul 
of the baptized yet impenitent disciple an argument 
for reformation and holiness, the strongest which can 
be offered. 



Christians the Temple of the Holy Ghost. 345 

The Holy Ghost, the Comforter, is with and in 
you. What then can turn you aside from duty, 
brother in Christ ? What can depress or terrify you ? 
God is with you, and in you, and there is no power 
which can cope with Him, Who is Almighty. In every 
struggle against the world, the flesh, or the devil, let 
the thought, *'They that are for us, are more than 
they that are for them," nerve you to earnest and un- 
faltering energy. In the work of God you have the 
strength of God to help you. Ye, too, are the tem- 
ples of the Holy Ghost, my brothers in Christ, who 
have been born of water and the Spirit in holy bap- 
tism, but who have neglected your duties, rejected 
your privileges, and failed to fulfil the responsibilities of 
your profession. In you dwells the Holy Ghost, unless 
you be reprobate, and have grieved away the Spirit of 
God, so that you are dead whilst you live. If you 
have aught of compunction at an inconsistent, sinful 
life; if the subject now presented arrests you, and your 
soul recognizes the peril of its condition, then you are 
not without the indwelling of God's Spirit, for from 
that Spirit alone proceed compunction and repent- 
ance. I remind you, then, how fearful is the peril, 
when by a life of impurity, in thought, word, or deed, 
you defile the body and soul which is the temple of 
the Holy Ghost. 

Take this thought into your own heart and judg- 
ment; let it be with you always, let it go with you to 



34^ Christians the Temple of the Holy Ghost. 



your business and your pleasures. Yes, if you dare 
to violate the laws of God, let this thought that you 
are the temple of God, be with you in the midst of that 
violation of God's laws, and may it force you, by the 
power of its divine truth, from habits and places of 
sin, lest the destruction denounced upon those who 
defile God's temple suddenly overtake you. 

Beloved, let us all give diligent heed to the words 
of the Apostle, so full of power to encourage and to 
warn — Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you } If any 
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; 
for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 



SERMON XXVIII. 



{Trinity Sunday.) 
*'THE TRINITY IN UNITY." 
JOB XI. 7, 8. 

*' Canst thou by searching find out God? cfinst thou find out the Al- 
mighty unto perfection ? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou, do ? 
deeper than, hell; what canst thou know?^^ 

We are about to examine the doctrine of the Holy 
Trinity, the most stupendous revelation which has 
ever been made to man. We are to consider a sub- 
ject concerning which we have no other source of in- 
formation than the revealed will of God Himself; and 
the essential nature of which, philosophy has never 
attempted to explain without showing its weakness 
in the attempt, and proving the force of the question 
in the text — " Canst thou by searching find out God } 
canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection } It 
is as high as heaven; what canst thou do .-^ deeper 
than hell; what canst thou know.''" Ought we not, 
as reasonable men, to approach the investigation into 
God's nature with the humility of a child-like faith ? 
Should not Reason studiously restrain herself within 
her legitimate sphere; and belief in the truth, as de- 



348 



" The Trhiity in Unity T 



clared by God, be the all-pervading temper of our 
moral nature ? The same trust in God which prevents 
our seeking to know more, will not suffer us to believe 
less than what He has thought befits a being whose 
understanding is not sufficient to master beforehand 
the mysteries of human nature itself. 

It is a vain fancy, that because we possess powers 
and faculties, enabling us to investigate the various 
truths of nature and man, therefore we may safely 
trust them in the investigation of the unrevealed 
mysteries of nature's God and man's Creator. Let us 
come then to the contemplation of the doctrine of 
the Trinity, as a revealed, not logically deduced 
truth; far beyond our reason, but by no means con- 
trary to it. 

I know it is common to speak of the mysterious 
truths of Revelation, especially of the Trinity, in such 
a manner as to lead the superficial observer to believe 
that there is nothing but mist and conjecture. This 
is not the case; and I shall endeavor to prove that 
all unreasonable obscurity is the offspring of human 
speculation, not of the Word of God. The revealed 
doctrine of the Trinity has defied, and ever will defy, 
the most gigantic intellect to comprehend clearly; 
but nevertheless it is simple and plain as to the fact 
itself. 

Our doctrine of the Trinity is this — that there is 
One Divine Being or Essence which we call God, 



" The Trinity in Unity T 



349 



but that it exists after a three-fold manner; in other 
words, that in the Unity of the Godhead there are 
three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity. 
We believe that the Father is God in the strict sense 
of the word; the Son God; and the Holy Ghost God, 
in the same sense of the word *'God"; hence that 
there is but One God. 

That the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the 
Father, nor the Holy Ghost either Father or Son; 
they are distinct, so that one is not the other; hence 
the Trinity of the Godhead. These three, however 
distinct, are yet united enough to be One God. 

This is our doctrine of the Trinity, and this is 
the whole of it. It is a fact of Revelation, not a 
speculation of theology; as a fact, therefore, we pre- 
sent it. That the Scriptures reveal but one God, 
and that this is fundamental to all true Revelation, 
no one who contends either for or against the Trin- 
ity questions. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is 
one Lord" is responded to by both the Church and her 
opposers as a certain truth; we meet on this one and 
common ground. 

Holding fast then to this settled truth, we open 
the Bible: we find the same names, attributes, and 
acts of God attributed to the Son. We find, for in- 
stance, ''The Word was made flesh, and the Word 
was God;" we read again that ''we must honor the 
Son as we honor the Father;" and again, Let all 



350 



The Trinity in Unity T 



the angels of God worship the Son. Let us follow 
St. John to the heavenly temple, and listen to the 
Liturgy of the multitudinous host of angels round 
about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders. 
Let us with St. John count the heavenly worship- 
pers, and tell out the number "ten thousand times 
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." Let us 
approach near that angelic congregation, and scru- 
tinize the subject of their inspiring worship, and 
tell what it is they are saying, not in a timid whis- 
per, at low breath, but in a loud voice, which makes 
the heavens ring again. " Worthy is the Lamb that 
was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." 
"And every creature which is in Heaven and on 
earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the 
sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Bless- 
ing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb 
for ever and ever." In that worship, as St. John 
describes it, the adoration of the universal hierarchy, 
and of the whole rational creation of God, is rendered 
to the Lamb as well as to Him Who sitteth on the 
throne. The doctrine of the Trinity explains the 
worship of Heaven as detailed for us in the inspired 
A^ork of St. John's Revelation. The doctrine of the 
Trinity tells us that the Second Person of the God- 
head, of the same substance with the Father — God 



The Triiiity in Unity T 



351 



of God, begotten, not made — took upon Him our na- 
ture, and in it, as the Lamb of God, offered up Him- 
self upon the cross as a perfect sacrifice for all the 
sins of the whole world. The Lamb of God is our 
Jesus, the Saviour of the world; and He is likewise 
very God of very God. The worship of Heaven, 
therefore, which St. John was permitted to see in 
his sublime vision, is in no wise inexplicable to us 
whose tongues have been trained in re-duplicated 
Litany to say, " O Lamb of God, who takest away 
the sins of the world, have mercy upon us." Here 
then, is One possessed of all the properties and at- 
tributes that constitute Deity; and we bow to the 
Divine Word, and worshipping the Son acknowledge 
Him God. The examination of Scripture also further 
discloses a Third Person, the Holy Ghost, likewise 
invested with the names, and attributes, and acts of 
Deity. 

We are told that lying to the Holy Ghost is 
lying to God"; that "He searcheth all things, even 
the deep things of God"; and that "The Spirit is 
eternal"; and here again we boAv to Scripture, and 
worship the Holy Ghost as God. Again we have 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost united in the form of 
baptism and of benediction — one name yet three 
persons — therefore we adore One God in Trinity. 

Now the difficulty in this fact and doctrine lies 
not in what is, but in what is not, revealed : viz., the 



352 



" The Trinity in Unity T 



manner of the existence of the Three Persons in the 
same Divine Nature. That the fact itself is revealed 
we have given the Scripture proof, and if the mind 
would stop at the simple fact, and not boldly press 
forward to know how it can be so, we should hear no 
dispute on this doctrine of Revelation which has al- 
ways been held by the Christian Church. 

The unity of the Godhead, and yet the divinity of 
the Son and Holy Ghost, were introduced in the early 
Christian writers of the first two centuries, not as 
points to be defended, but as truths of God's nature. 
The catechumen at his baptism professed the Trinity, 
the martyr at the stake worshipped, the Triune God. 
Not a service did they meet to celebrate, not a Sac- 
rament did they solemnize, but proclaimed their be- 
lief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
And when in later days the simplicity of primitive 
faith had given place to the speculations of misap- 
plied philosophy, and the mysterious truth of the 
Trinity began to be assailed by the pretended expla- 
nation of the divinity of the Son and of the Holy 
Ghost, then the truth is presented to our view as a 
matter to be defended, and the writings and creeds 
of the early Church guard it by express and unequiv- 
ocal confessions. 

The Church does not hold that the Divine Persons 
are one and three in the same respect. They are one as 
to substance; they are three as to manner of subsistence. 



The Trinity in UiiityT 



353. 



In the language of another^ — The divine essence 
is that alone which makes God; that can be but one, 
and therefore there can be no more Gods than one. 
But because the Scriptures, which assure us of the 
unity of the divine essence, do likewise, with the Fa- 
ther, join the Son and the Holy Ghost in the same 
attributes, operations, and worship; therefore we be- 
- lieve that they are distinct as to the relation which 
they bear to each other, but not to their essence, 
which is but one." 

Now, I warn those who seek for spiritual improve- 
ment to avoid any presumptuous investigation into 
the unrevealed mysteries of the infinite Jehovah. 
The influence of the doctrine of the Trinity is shown 
by the daily walk of every sincere and humble disci- 
ple. It fulfils the longings of our humanity, that de- 
sire which all men who have been made in God's 
image have felt, for some mode whereby the con- 
sciousness of sin might be removed. And the en- 
lightened conscience feels that a Redeemer from sin 
who is not divine is no Redeemer at all; and a being 
who is to deal with the spirit, to control and correct 
it, and guard it against Satan, the evil spirit, must be 
divine; for the limitation which deprives it of divine 
power deprives its influence of all sure comfort. 

I venture to say that when they who reject this 
glorious doctrine shall put aside all human specula- 

* Hobart's "Festivals and Fasts," p. 27. 



354 



The Trinity in Unity!' 



tions and explanations and illustrations which over- 
ardent churchmen have given, and let their own 
sin-stricken hearts utter the cry for a Saviour and 
Sanctifier, they will feel that this doctrine of the 
holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity is to them, as it 
is to us of the Church on earth, and to the Church 
triumphant in Heaven, the great theme of ceaseless 
and adoring lauds. We hardly know how infinitely 
happier is this life, and how infinitely stronger our 
hope of the future life, from that great truth which in 
the form of creed, of prayer, of holy song, of chant 
and bold anthem, has been teaching us how the One 
Infinite, Eternal, Holy God, Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost has been working out the mysterious result 
of making us sons of God, partakers of the divine 
nature. 

Let us go forth, then, to our work in life, the better 
fitted to discharge it, because we have been taught 
and have received the glorious doctrine of the Trinity. 
Be our lot to rule or to be ruled, to study or to work, 
to be rich or poor, let us go forth to-day with our 
hearts full of gratitude to God the Father who made 
us, God the Son who redeemed us, and God the Holy 
Ghost who sanctifieth us. Where lies our hope of 
Heaven } Is it not in the atonement of Jesus Christ 
our Lord } The doctrine of the Holy Trinity seals 
that hope, for it affirms and defends His Divinity. 
Where again, is our hope of overcoming Satan, and 



The Trinity iji Unity T 



355 



all spiritual enemies of the soul ? Is it not in the 
presence and power of the Holy Spirit ? The doctrine 
Ave are now considering assures of that help, for it 
asserts and defends the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. 
Let not the enemy of our souls drive us then to peril 
our salvation by denying this ground-truth of the 
evangelical revelation. The Christian retreats to the 
stronghold of Scripture and the Church and is safe. 
Let us not be tempted from the maintenance of this 
doctrine, which is our hope in life, our hope in eternity. 

It is false to say that the Trinity is a speculative 
doctrine; it is plain, and its effects are most practical. 
The doctrine of the Trinity is the very corner-stone 
of the Christian edifice, the sum and substance of the 
system of the Gospel. Deny it, and the Victim of the 
cross becomes a mere man, the Holy Ghost a mere 
energy, the Bible a medley, the Church a false wit- 
ness. Admit it, let us act upon it, show it in our life 
as well as by our lips, and Heaven becomes ours by 
the triple guarantee of the Triune God. 



SERMON XXIX. 



HE RECEIVETH SINNERS. 

ST. LUKE XV. I, 2. 

*' Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and simiers for to hear 
ITwt. And the Pharisees and sc7-ibes murmured, sayijig, This man receiv- 
eth sinners, and eateth with them.^^ 

This inspired statement, brief as it is, presents 
before us our adorable Master as the friend of the 
multitude; as One Who received them and ate with 
them; One Who seemed to have loving sympathy for 
them, even when scribes and Pharisees murmured. 
His daily intercourse with them declared the purport 
of His whole mission, to seek and to save that which 
was lost; and therefore were they there to hear God's 
Word from His mouth. 

If the parable of the lost sheep tells of love for 
sinners, in what a trumpet tone does the same blessed 
truth sound forth, in the habitual act of Jesus, as dis- 
closed here. This is the precise light in which I wish 
you to view the text. For be it remembered that 
mere men, the best esteemed, and most authoritative 
even, may enforce elevated principles with their elo- 
quence, without always adding the sanction of their 
personal practice to argumentation. 



He Receiveth Sinners. 



357 



I would rather read the biography of a great man 
than his speeches; for in estimating individual charac- 
ter, it is not so much what a man says as what he 
does, that we must look to. A man may discourse 
fluently of morality, and yet violate every one of 
the ten commandments. He may talk of charity, 
whilst he hates his neighbor bitterly. He may speak 
with an angel's tongue in favor of almsgiving, whilst 
he wrings the last farthing from some unfortunate 
debtor, or remands a beggar to his starving family 
with some bitter Avord of contempt, which is harder 
for him to bear than his poverty. 

And although we know that every word that Jesus 
spake was truth, and that His life illustrated His 
every word, yet is the record of the life of Jesus capa- 
ble of producing upon most minds even a stronger 
influence than His words; so that, as a matter of fact, 
the example of Jesus forms the prominent topic in our 
practical Christian teaching. Upon this ground it is 
that I claim so high a value for the brief passage 
selected for the text. Let us look at our Master as 
He is here presented to us. He stands surrounded, 
nay, pressed upon, by an eager, attentive, interested 
crowd; notwithstanding the murmurs of scribes and 
Pharisees He receives and eats with them: this is His 
habit, this is His characteristic. Our Master is sought 
after by the people; He has sympathy with them, and 
so calls out their love. They crowd around Him to 



358 



He Receiveth Sinners. 



hear the Word of God: that Word, as spoken by His 
mouth, has a real attraction to the people. Christ, 
then, sympathizes with all ! The humblest and those 
of least account in the world's estimate, and has a 
word to speak, which the people draw nigh in order 
to hear. 

And now, oh Christian disciples, let us see the 
work which our ascended Lord has left to His Church 
at large, and to His individual followers personally, to 
discharge. The mission of Christ, as seen in the his- 
torical record of the text, is substantially the true 
mission of Christ's followers; let us learn our work, 
then, not only from His teachings, but from His ex- 
ample. If we would do good, not to the refined and 
cultivated only, but to the people, we must have sym- 
pathy with them, and we must have a word to speak, 
which the people will be glad to hear. Christ came 
into the world, not to condemn, but to save it; He 
took our nature upon Him that He might be Man as 
well as God, with all the sympathies of man, with all 
the real feelings of man. The humblest of the peo- 
ple, and the most sinful, were not beyond His true, 
full-hearted love; they supplied the very object of His 
divine mission to save the world; since He came to 
call sinners to repentance, and to declare the love of 
God in providing a free and full atonement for sin. 

As a Man with a brother. He felt that real sympa- 
thy which led Him to receive sinners and eat with 



He Receiveth Sinners. 



359 



them; whilst as one who bore a divine message of 
love, of reconciliation, of atonement, He had words to 
utter which the multitude were glad enough to hear. 
Christ's humanity, therefore, is an explanation of 
His real sympathy; Christ's divine message of love 
and atonement, the real attraction which led sinners 
to hear Him. He knew as Man, what it was to be 
tempted; and He could disclose, as the Word of God, 
the good news of atonement for sin, and of power 
from on high, to overcome sin. And now let us turn 
from contemplating our Master to impress upon our 
hearts and consciences the duty of perpetuating, ac- 
cording to our measure and degree, the same glorious 
mission of benevolence. 

The work of Christ, viewed as embracing sympathy 
and good news for all, even the humblest and worst 
of men, is the distinguishing work of the Christian 
Church at large, and of each true, faithful follower of 
Jesus Christ. In so far as Christ's mission involves 
an atonement for sin. His work can be shared by none. 
He trod the wine-press of God's wrath alone. He 
has finished the propitiation for sin. He has made, 
once for all, upon the cross, that perfect sacrifice, 
oblation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole 
world, on the merit of which all may rely, but in the 
merit of which none may share. Christ's mission as 
the eternal and only-begotten of the Father, Incarnate, 
and atoning for sin, is peerless; it is the study of men 



36o 



He ReceivetJi Sinners. 



and angels; it Avill form the burden of their eternal 
song in Heaven. But Christ's mission, as the Founder 
of His Church, as the first-begotten of many brethren, 
as the Head of His mystical Body, with its man}- 
members, is to be perpetuated, is to be shared — oh, 
blessed word ! — is to be shared with Him by men like 
ourselves ! Yes, in this respect we may be co-workers 
with God, representatives of Christ in the world, the 
perpetuators of His sympathy, and His winning mes- 
sage to all, Avithout exception. The question, there- 
fore — What is the mission of the Christian Church at 
large } what is the duty of the individual Christian 
within his sphere — is easily resolved by looking to 
Christ's example. 

If Christ came not to condemn but to save the 
world, then the characteristic of the Christian Church's 
mission is not to condemn but to save the world. If 
Christ came with a man's real sympathies, to seek 
and to save that which was lost, then the mission of 
Christ's mystical body is to exhibit a real, unaffected 
sympathy, not with the few, but Avith the many — Avith 
all men, even, nay chiefly, with the Avorst of sinners. 
If Christ came Avith a message, Avhich could and did 
win a croAvd to press upon Him in order to hear Him, 
then the Christian Church should be able to speak 
words Avhich, by the poAver of the Holy Ghost, Avill 
arrest and attract sinners. If Christ Avas One Whom 
sinners loved, then every Christian, in a degree, and 



1 



He Recciveth Sinners. 



361 



in that degree in which he is' hke Christ, should be a 
man whom sinners would draw nigh to hear. 

But, you say, this is no description of the actual 
working of the Christian Church in our days 1 This 
is no true description of each Christian's position 
among his fellow-men ! The mass of the people do 
not "throng the Church's ministrations; the individual 
Christian is not always the man to whom the outcast 
and erring will most certainly resort. If it be so, then 
let us in our relation to the Church at large, and as 
individual disciples, seriously reflect whether in these 
two particulars, of sympathy and an attractive mes- 
sage, we have not departed from the example of Jesus 
Christ, our Head and Master. If the Christian Church, 
as a body, has not now a thronging crowd of Publicans 
and sinners surrounding her, as had Jesus, can she point 
to the tokens of a real sympathy for the people at 
large, and for sinners; such as Jesus manifested in His 
daily life t The question is not. Can the Christian 
Church speak her Master's message with words of 
human eloquence 1 but, Can she do her Master's 
work with superhuman charity } 

The question is not, Can the Christian Church 
preach.^ but, Does she practise divine sympathy? Not 
does she tell of, but does she exhibit, human feelings, 
binding men into one universal brotherhood, and giv- 
ing claims from man upon his fellow, for deeds of 
mercy and charity.^ If not. then in this particular of 



362 



He Receiveth Sinners. 



real sympathy, the example of Christ needs to be re- 
studied by Christ's members and mystical body. 

But let us ask again, If the Christian Church is 
not welcomed by the people, as was Christ, does she 
deliver a message as full of attraction as did Christ, 
her Head ? Is the message which the great voice of 
Christeadom is at this day uttering one of love from 
God to man, of atonement for sin, made upon the 
cross for all, of eternal life offered to all who are 
willing to be saved ? Does the Christian Church 
stand forth before the world, as stood Jesus, the 
Divine Teacher, as a perpetual witness to the Infinite 
Love of God for erring man, declaring the sin of men 
to be their deliberate rejection of that love ? Does 
it say boldly that the great sin of the world consists 
in this, that the world does not believe in a Saviour ? 
Or is the voice of modern Christendom characterized 
by anathemas, or canonical enactments, tending to 
separation rather than to brotherhood; anathemas 
upon the heathen, anathemas upon erring Christian 
brethren, anathemas upon those who differ in their 
intellectual expressions of divine truth ? Is the mes- 
sage of the Christian Church in our days a fair 
prolongation of Christ's message, or is it not rather 
accompanied, and even overlaid, by logical and theo- 
logical deductions from that message, until the people, 
as distinguished from the chief priests and scribes, 
feel no disposition to listen to it, and when they listen. 



He ReceivetJi Sinners. 



363 



cannot understand it, not coming home to their moral 
necessities, and daily wants ? And if every individual 
Christian, in our days, is not the man to whom those 
who are erring or in want — the publicans and sinners 
of our day — most readily turn, is it not because, as 
individuals, we fail truly to represent Christ our Master 
in His real sympathy for all, in those good words of 
love and penitence which He taught in the presence 
of all? 

If in his individual life, the Christian disciple per- 
petuates the coldness, the technicalities, and the con- 
troversies of Christendom at large, there will be seen 
the results in individual cases which attend upon the 
Church's mission. If our sympathy for sinners be not 
hearty, if we do not strive to cultivate a real love for 
those who err, looking into our own heart and life 
for constant motives for forbearance, and forgiveness, 
then we shall not succeed in extending the Kingdom 
of Christ among men. If a disciple of Christ, forget- 
ting his own frailties, his own sins, his own repeated 
need of God's forgiveness, goes out into the world 
with a proud step, only to despise some erring brother, 
or to give a pompous word of cold, unfeeling warning, 
we must not wonder if people, instead of crowding 
around, shun that Christian disciple, and class him 
with the scribes and Pharisees who murmured be- 
cause Christ received sinners, and ate with them. Or 
again, if the Christian, with his heart swelling with 



3^4 



He ReceivctJi Sinners. 



true sympathy for all around, and unaffectedly in con- 
tact with the hearts of his erring brothers, should take 
the form of his message to sinners, from modern sys- 
tems of theology rather than from the loving words 
of Jesus; if he should fail to declare boldly that the 
basis of the Gospel is laid in the infinite love of God 
for sinners, dwelling on dark and mysterious passages, 
rather than on the clear and unmistakable Gospel 
which Christ's life and death continually declare to 
angels and men; then, too, there will be no parallel 
to the scene in our text; the mass of the people, the 
humblest of the people, gladly drawing near to listen 
to the words of God, at the mouth of Jesus our Lord. 

Beloved, may I not conclude with the earnest ex- 
hortation that we shall examine ourselves on the 
point which the text has led us to consider, and with 
the Gospel of Christ for our guide, review our princi- 
ples and actions, seeking by God's help to bring them 
into truer conformity to the example of Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Is there not need for sympathy when so 
many hearts are crushed beneath the trials and 
changes of life, when so many never hear the tones 
of fraternal kindness, except they proceed from a heart 
attuned to the deep harmonies of evangelical brother- 
hood Is there not need for declaring the good news 
of a Crucified, and Risen, and ever-present Lord, when 
so many hearts are burdened by sin, sick and weary 
with the unrealities of the present, and only to be sat- 



He Receiveth Sinners. 



365 



isfied by those spiritual realities which are found in a 
Gospel which tells of a God of love, a Father in 
Heaven, Who so loved the world that He gave His 
only-begotten Son to die for the sins of the world ? 
Is there not need for large-hearted, liberal, fraternal 
good-will in these days when everything seems to 
divide man from his fellow, and every Christian is 
separated from his brother by the veriest trifles of form 
or fashion ecclesiastical ? 

There can be no earnest Christian, who Avill not 
for himself, and for the Church at large, take up the 
wish for greater efficiency, for more evident aggres- 
sions of Christ's kingdom upon the kingdom of Satan. 
There is but one way to bring about this wish. It is to 
be more like Christ; for His members are His repre- 
sentatives in this world. Let us study more deeply 
than heretofore the life of Christ, and seek more ear- 
nestly than ever for the grace of God, that we may 
follow the footsteps of His most holy life. 

Let us do what we can by sympathy and a hearty 
declaration of God's word of love to man, to promote 
such a true and heart-felt knowledge of the glorious 
Gospel as may tend to lead all to Christ, and to re- 
produce in some degree the scene which the text 
sketches for us, as attending Christ's mission, when 
the people pressed upon Him to hear the Word of 
God. It will be a glorious day for our race, and may 
the good God hasten it in His time, when Christ's 



366 



He Receive th Sinners. 



followers, in their corporate and in their individual 
capacity, exhibit themselves as the very friends of the 
needy and the suffering, — the real, sympathizing 
friends of all, even of the lowest and most degraded; 
and when it shall again be true of Christians, as of 
Christ Himself, that the people press upon them to 
hear the Word of God. 

We need not dread the murmurings of scribes and 
Pharisees; nay, we should account it an honorable 
thing to be faulted for over-much love for the poor, 
the erring, and the afflicted. I know of no music so 
harmonious in a true Christian's ear, as that rude, 
unsympathizing murmur, He receiveth sinners and 
eateth with them." It was a charge made against 
Christ that He sympathized with the poor and the 
sinner; let us account it a rare blessing, if in our love 
for Christ, we should find that the same charge is 
made against us. 



SERMON XXX. 



JESUS WRITIXG OX THE GROUND. 

ST. JOHN Vni. 8, AND PART OF 9TH ^TERSE. 

"And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which 
heard it, being canz'icted by their own comcience, went out one by otie.^' 

It is not mere fancy to suppose .that as our Lord 
v\TOte, every eye in that tumultuous assembly was 
fastened on the writing. The sinner herself, and her 
hypocritical, and sinful accusers saw, and read, and 
felt what was written. How could that assembly who 
had forced themselves into His presence, help crowd- 
ing near to see what a Prophet, yea and more than 
a Prophet, was writing, and the writing, the only 
response, at first, He gave to their deceitful ques- 
tionings } I do not think that there is much dif- 
ficulty in supposing that what was written by the 
Master was eagerly read by those whom it so directly 
concerned. 

There may be more imagination involved in ven- 
turing an opinion as to what our Lord actually Avrote; 
but even here, when we fully consider the circum- 
stances, and know that all alike in that crowd were 
violators of God's holy law, it would seem to be a 
natural conjecture to say that the blaster wrote that 



368 



Jesus Writing on ihe Ground. 



, single commandment that all alike had broken. They 
had asked as to the punishment of one who had no- 
toriously violated the law. If Jesus stooped down 
and wrote, "Thou shalt not commit adultery — " if to 
their unsilenced clamor He added, He that is with- 
out sin among you, let him first cast a stone;" and 
then again stooped down, and wrote the same change- 
less law of God, "Thou shalt not commit adultery — " 
what other effect could reasonably follo\v, than that 
each individual of that hypocritical band, being con- 
victed by his own conscience, should go out, one by 
one .'^ Yes, one by one; singly convicted, singly con- 
demned by the silent yet irresistible re-tracing of God's 
holy law, by the finger of Christ, on the ground. 

But, if you do not choose to accept this conjecture, 
be it so, that you and I do not know what the Master 
wrote. All that was required was that they who were 
then present should read, and be convicted of their 
sins, by that silent monitor, which confirmed in their 
consciences the testimony of the out-spoken word of 
Jesus. And now, I beg you to believe, and remember 
that Jesus is ever, at all ages of the world, and to 
every soul, confirming the testimony of His written, 
and formally uttered word, by silent, admonitory, 
appeals to the individual conscience. The act, which 
many have passed over as of no particular value in 
this incident, is in my opinion, full of vital, and com- 
prehensive instruction ! 



Jesus Writmg on the Ground. 



If that action was His chosen answer to the erring 
Jews; if, even after He uttered His word, He still 
repeated this action, let us not think that it may 
escape without reverential study. It was not for the 
men of His day only, but for all of us, that Jesus 
stooped down and wrote on the ground. Practically, 
He is still near each one, admonishing, upbraiding, 
absolving. The loving Saviour of the world is not 
only, by His word written, and preached, saying to 
the penitent sinner, "Go and sin no more," and to the 
impenitent, and hypocritical, Cast the first stone," — 
but that same adorable Being is at this day, doing 
what He did in that olden time, when, in addition 
to His spoken word, He gave the silent warning in 
those dust-written, unknown letters, which each con- 
science interpreted for itself: and which added force 
to the conviction that pressed home upon each, and 
led to that silent departure of each convicted sinner, 
one by one. Oh, beloved, Jesus still stoops down 
and writes upon the ground ! I am glad that nothing 
is told in the sacred record of what He once wrote; 
because it leaves each one free to interpret for him- 
self individually, what is thus mysteriously written. 

What He writes for us, each one concerned knows, 
and if we will but give heed, that silent admonition 
or suggestion shall aid the more formal declaration 
of the Master's will; in producing a thorough convic- 
tion of conscience, and by consequence, an entire con- 



370 



jesiis Writi?ig on the Ground. 



version of the heart, and Hfe, to Christian obedience, 
and godliness. 

Beloved, whether you call yourselves Christians or 
not, whether }-ou ha\-e confessed or denied the on!}- 
name given unto us whereby we can be saved, I have 
a word to speak to each one of you, and I beseech 
you, in Christ's behalf, to hear me. Jesus is seeking 
to save. He is seeking to sanctify you, through His 
Holy Spirit; He is doing this by silent, as well as by 
audible appeals; and what I desire, is to get this 
fact fastened in your judgments and hearts, that }-ou 
may go away from this house of prayer to make it 
your life's business to discern, and give heed to these 
secret admonitions of your Saviour, as* well as to those 
more open appeals which His "Word and Church are 
always uttering. 

It is one of the greatest mistakes which an}- man 
can make in regard to the Christian s}-stem. to sup- 
pose that our ]^\Iaster"s faith is onh- good for formal 
occasions, or that He warns or encourages men only 
at set times and places. As the Incarnate Son of 
God, the Saviour would have us love God with all 
our hearts, and our neighbor as ourselves, and do it 
at all times, and in all places, so has He graciousl}- 
ordained that by open, and b}- secret agencies, His 
voice shall be heard appealing to sinners to repent, 
and to avowed disciples to be more earnest and de- 
voted as the}' see the day approaching. 



Jesus Writing on the Groimd. 



There is still going- on, this silent, mysterious 
stooping down and writing on the ground, as well 
as the outspoken word of authority; and if we will 
let this good thought possess us, it will write the 
law of God for us, not on the printed page only, or 
in the spoken ministrations of the Sanctuary; but in 
the very dust of the ground, as we pass along in our 
daily walk in life. We shrill be attracted, and con- 
victed by the admonitions of Jesus, when we least, 
as when we most, expect Him. And each one shall 
find that the subject of personal religion, which in 
its more formal discussion has seemed to have only 
a general bearing, is taken up by the divihe Master, 
in this secret and mysterious writing on the ground, 
so as to make each individual conscience apply the 
truth for itself; and being convicted, lead each to 
go out from sin, and worldliness, and lukewarmness, 
to penitence, godliness, and loving zeal for Christ, 
and His Gospel. 

I cannot think that it is a m.ere accident of com- 
position, by which in the text, the statement that the 
word spoken led to the conviction of the individual con- 
science, follows the declaration, " Again He stooped 
down and wrote on the ground." It seems as if the 
Evangelist would convey that this repeated writing en- 
forced the word spoken: that this silent action gave 
sharpness to the evangelical sword, which is the 
Word of God, and which ''pierces even to the divid- 



3/2 Jesus Writing on the Ground. 

ing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and in- 
tents of the heart." 

*'And again he stooped down and wrote on the 
ground, and they which heard it, being convicted 
by their own conscience, went out one by one." And 
is it not actually so now-a-days } The word of the 
Gospel, as spoken even by the most gifted, the most 
discerning, the most eloquent of men, will fail, unless 
the spirit of Jesus takes up the thoughts, and in its 
own mysterious workings, gives specialty and in- 
dividuality to its application to the conscience. How 
much more necessary must this be, when, as with 
many of us, these high endowments are absent, and 
all that can be done to warn or to persuade is gen- 
eral, and vague; and too often, a confusion, rather 
than an elucidation of the written word. What shall 
be the hope of the minister of God for each soul 
entrusted to his spiritual care } What, but that the 
blessed Saviour whose word is spoken, is still present 
to enforce it, by His own mysterious, personal appli- 
cation of it to the individual conscience. For all — 
Pastor as well as people — the thought is wholesome, 
that Jesus still stoops down and writes on the ground; 
and that what He writes may not be known to the 
uninterested, or the curious, but is understood, and 
recognized, and felt by each heart for itself. 

My brother, perhaps on some occasion you have 



Jesus Writing 07i the Ground. 



373 



come to the house of God as usual, and have heard 
there of the need of repentance for sin; but you 
went forth unmoved, thinking there was time enough. 
Suddenly you may have fallen into great peril, and 
have felt that your life was in danger; and then the 
words of God calling you to preparation came up 
before you with new power, and what you had heard, 
or read, of " your duty to Him who made, redeemed, 
and sanctifies you, seemed filled with a burning ra- 
diance which flashed into the inmost recesses of your 
conscience, and led you to cry to God for pardon. 
Ah ! you saw then the mysterious writing on the 
ground, whereby an ever-present, ever-living Lord 
enforced, to your conviction, and reformation, His 
ordinary word. And so, in innumerable cases, which 
each one's memory will recall, this same silent mon- 
itor has been present, to stir up the conscience, to 
heed and obey the claims of Christ's faith and Gospel. 

The Jews of our ^Master's day may have thought 
it a mere accidental circumstance, critics, and com- 
mentators on the text, may now say that it was of 
no account, that Jesus stooped down and wrote on 
the ground. In fact, the translators of our almost 
peerless English version seem, by the unauthorized 
interpolation of the reason, *'As though He heard 
them not," to intimate that the stooping down and 
writing was simply indicative of His indifference. I 
would ask of all v^'ho thus think. When did Jesus 



374 



Jesus Writing on the Ground. 



ever write words which man might safely pass by 
as of no account ? Whether Christ writes on the 
broad heavens above us, in the order, and power,, 
and glory of the celestial firmament; or in the dust 
of the earth, as when He stooped down at Jerusalem, 
with open, and secret sinners trembling before His 
august Presence, or in the inspired volume of reve- 
lation, when, I ask, did Jesus write a word that 
man could safely neglect ? 

Nay, those words which were written in the dust 
of Jerusalem's streets, may be read even to this day 
in the fate of Jerusalem's children — that wicked and 
adulterous generation. And so, the slightest admo- 
nition of conscience, the most secret, and unlooked- 
for check which turns us from sin, or presents more 
vividly the claims of Christ, and holiness, is worthy 
of note; for it is virtually that silent and mysterious 
writing on the ground, which each conscience feels, 
and by which, one by one, each man may be led to 
go forth, convicted of his sin. 

Cherish that sensitiveness of conscience, then, I 
beseech you, beloved, which would recognize the 
warning of the Master, always, everywhere, and by 
all the agencies of life. When conscience presses 
you with the thought of the sins you are daily com- 
mitting against your loving Father in Heaven, give 
heed as to the admonition of Jesus, and at once con- 
fess your sins to God, and by repentance and a new 



Jesus Writing on the Ground. 



375 



life, prepare for the lofty destiny to which the Son of 
God, in His Gospel calls you. If on your way to 
places or associations tending to sin, }-ou feel, by 
known or mysterious agencies, that your conscience 
chides you, give heed to the writing of your Lord; 
see what He is silently tracing before you in the dust, 
and do not pass on to trample out those words, with- 
out remembering that they are the words of Jesus, 
your God, your Saviour, your Judge. 

If in the way of godliness you feel the stirrings 
of a holy desire to more absorbing consecration of 
yourself to God's glory and the salvation of men; if 
you feel the impulse -of conscience telling you to be 
more prayerful, watchful, laborious, generous, and lov- 
ing; bethink yourself, Christian brother, that perhaps 
the ^Master is stooping down and writing something 
for yo2t to read. Stop then, and as He stoops, so, in 
humility, bow down your head and heart, and let your 
conscience say whether in this summons to new zeal 
and devotedness there is not a message from Jesus to 
you individually. 

And so, as age comes on, and the friends we love 
depart from us, and the changes and chances of life 
press heavily on us — as bodily infirmities, the loss of 
interest in common things, and other signs of the 
passing away of this world touch our inner con- 
sciousness — let us think again whether these be not 
the mysterious characters in which the loving Saviour 



37^ y^^u^ Writing on the Ground. 



is setting before our eyes the admonitions, the en- 
couragements, the heart-summons of His Gospel. 

Let the young, in the midst of the reckless pursuit 
of sinful pleasures and dissipation, in grosser or more 
refined forms, stop and see the mysterious writing on 
the ground, of Him who says, "My son, my daughter, 
give me thine heart"; and let them learn the lesson, 
that the fashion of this world passeth away, but he 
that doeth the will of God abideth forever. 

Let the man or woman who has lived only to make 
a name for wit or learning, or for fashion, or ease, or 
wealth, or success, — stop and look at the writing of 
Jesus, admonishing us of the responsibilities and 
duties of life. Not alone on the ground, in silent 
checks of conscience, but openly, in His holy Word, 
Jesus has written, warning us that He will judge 
every one according to his deeds, and that He has 
given us intellect, and conscience, and physical life 
that we may glorify Him in a virtuous and godly 
career. Have we listened to His Word spoken } have 
we heeded the silent writing of His will, on the sur- 
face of our daily life } Who is there of all of us, 
young or old, who has not manifold stirrings of con- 
science in relation to his duty to God and man and 
to his own soul ? Let us give more earnest heed to 
our dear Master's efforts to save and sanctify us, "now 
whilst it is called to-day"; for the hour cometh when 
that loving Lord who stooped even to the ground and 



Jesus WiHting 07i the Ground. 377 

wrote the precepts of His will in the dust as if to 
check our wandering footsteps, shall rise in all the 
majesty of the eternal Judge of the quick and dead, 
and amid the dissolution of earth and the elements, 
shall write with the finger of judgment, the irreversi- 
ble, the imperishable decree, known and read of all — 
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he 
which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is 
righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is 
holy, let him be holy still." 



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